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Agreed, she might even bring a new dynamism to the effete party organisation in critical electoral states like UP. Agreed, she''s instinctively better at taking on the demands of mass politics, than Sonia''s ''I''d-rather-be-elsewhere'' public persona. But either way, it is far from certain that Priyanka could succeed where Sonia might fail.Agreed, Priyanka won''t have to face any questions about her origins.

And that the blow in Gujarat has merely advanced the eventual moment of transition. You could argue that Sonia''s accession was never the real thing but merely a holding operation. The urgent calls to Priyanka to join the fray is an acknowledgement of that. Blame it on Modi''s Gujarat, but there is a new anxiety in the Congress about fighting the next big battle with Sonia at the helm. It''s perhaps ironic, but hardly surprising, then that Sonia''s stock in the party has begun to falter just as she''s become better at her job. But Congressmen don''t usually judge their leaders on merit. She has even begun to address, after a period of confusion, the party''s drift towards a softer shade of saffron. To be sure, Sonia has done rather better than most gave her credit for — keeping the party together when disintegration was a distinct possibility, taking the first steps towards a federalist organisational culture, that has reduced arbitrary interference from the top. It''s just that things haven''t gone to plan since then. But in the mind of the Congress worker it was destiny that made Sonia party president. In 1984, as the news of Indira''s assassination came through, the question on every Congressman''s lip was: "Will he?" In 1991, as the party woke up to life after Rajiv, the question was: "Will she?" Call it dynasty, if you like. Nor a political beast, parti-cularly one that''s 118 years old, a new political imagination. In a fractured polity, personal magic cannot replace sound strategy.You can''t teach an old dog new tricks.