The Congress party anointed Rahul Gandhi as its vice-president on Saturday, bringing the fifth-generation member of India's most famous family firmly into the political line of fire.
The move, announced at the party's conclave here, makes Rahul the presumptive prime ministerial candidate and sets up a possible showdown in 2014 with Narendra Modi if the BJP relents to pressure from its cadres and moves the Gujarat CM to Delhi.
For now, the Congress stopped short of naming Rahul the candidate for the country's top job, perhaps out of consideration for its sitting octogenarian PM Manmohan Singh.
"What role Rahul would assume for the 2014 elections would be decided later," general secretary Janardan Dwivedi, who announced the decision by the Congress Working Committee, told reporters.
"With his appointment, Shri Rahul Gandhi has been elevated to No 2 in the Congress. And I am sure he will strengthen the party."