Team Mangalorean - New Delhi
from Ravi Kanvatirtha

New Delhi: Described as the Prince Charming and the future prime minister of India, whatever Rahul Gandhi, the 43-year-old AICC general secretary does, has to hit the headlines.

Media and political circles are agog with rumours that Rahul is 'involved' with Noella, the granddaughter of Zahir Shah, former ruler of Afghanistan. Among the media, the first to flash the news was The Sunday Guardian, edited by M J Akbar, which was immediately picked by newspapers from elsewhere, including a few southeast Asian tabloids.

The Sunday Guardian said: "The two (Rahul and the Afghan princess) have reportedly been seen together in the Aman Hotel in Delhi, which is known to be a regular haunt of the future PM, who spends hours there in the Fitness Centre, trying to develop biceps that can challenge those of Shah Rukh Khan and Robert Vadra.

"The young lady from the Afghan royal family is known to be very well brought up, with a gentle mien and a generous nature. Hence, Rahul’s buddies hope that, this time around the future PM will not walk away from a lady friend (as he has on numerous occasions in the past), but will follow the example of Papa Rajiv([Gandhi) when he married Mama Sonia in 1965."

The weekly went on: "The personable lady could emerge as a key asset for Rahul Gandhi as he seeks to win a fresh mandate for his battered party in 2014. She has undeniable appeal to the upwardly mobile youth vote."

The princess’s grandfather Zahir Shah had reigned for four decades from 1933 until he was dethroned in a coup in 1973 by his own cousin Mohammed Daud Khan. The king abdicated and went to Italy to live in exile. He returned to Kabul in 2002, and was given the title of Father of the Nation. He passed away in 2007 at the age of 93.

Rajiv at 40 had married Sonia Maino, daughter of an Italian builder from Turin and had two children, Rahul and Priyanka . The record of interfaith and intercaste marriages could be a family trait. Rahul's grandmother Indira Priyadarshini Nehru has married a Parsi from Allahabad, Feroze Gandhi. Sanjay married Maneka, a Sikh, and a socialite modelling for Bombay Dyeing.  Two years ago, she announced the marriage of her son Varun with graphic designer Inca Yamini Roy.

Rahul was seen in the company of Veronica, an architect, Spanish by birth but who grew up in Venezuela, since 2004. They were spotted together at cricket matches and holiday spots in Kerala. She was rumoured to have been asked to bow out to avoid another controversy over a foreign wife coming into the Nehru-Gandhi family.

The current Aghan friend is a jewellery designer, whose mother is also an Italian. The rumour-mills are working overtime. She is said to have taken up Roman Catholic religion and informed sources said that the Rahul and she often pray together in the home chapel of his mother Sonia's residence.