New Delhi, May 26: Congress veterans are playing their favourite game ? follow-the-leader ? but with a new leader.

Yesterday, when the party leadership turned out in strength for Sunil Dutt’s funeral, the game was playing out on the sidelines.

Two planeloads took off from the capital for Mumbai, where the sports and youth affairs minister was cremated. As usual, there was a clamour for the best seats.

Plane One had the VVIPS, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul. Home minister Shivraj Patil and senior leaders Ahmad Patel and Ambika Soni were among the lucky ones on the flight.

Plane Two carried the lesser mortals ? Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Digvijay Singh, Ashok Gehlot, Prithviraj Chavan, Rajiv Shukla and a big chunk of the Congress Working Committee.

But when Plane One returned from Mumbai with Sonia and Manmohan on board, there were no takers to accompany the Big Two on the two-hour trip. Only Rajya Sabha MP Rajiv Shukla opted to go with them. The reason: Rahul was staying back for the funeral.

When Plane Two took off for Delhi late in the evening, it was stuffed with the Congress’s “Who’s Who” ? ministers, AICC functionaries and CWC members ? who jostled to get close to the GeNext Nehru-Gandhi.

By the time the aircraft flew over Bhopal, small groups of leaders had begun queuing up to have a word with the first-time MP who they see as their ticket to the “good old days” when the Congress ruled alone.

Senior ministers formed one group, followed by AICC general secretaries. Then came the youth brigade. By touchdown time, even AICC secretaries and MPs had made it.

Off the plane and in the VVIP lounge in Palam’s technical area, follow-the-leader carried on. The ministers and party seniors crowded around Rahul, all ears as he repeated his brief conversation with Priya, Sunil Dutt’s younger daughter, about his last hours.

In the morning, Rahul ? caring as a leader should be ? had ensured that Plane Two took off first, so that its passengers would not get stuck in a traffic nightmare in Mumbai resulting from the VVIPs’ security restrictions.

Sonia seemed to have noticed the enthusiasm her son generated. Today, when a group of leaders requested her for the umpteenth time to draft him into the party, the Congress president did not refuse. Instead, she asked how Rahul’s presence in the organisation would make a difference.

Indications are that Rahul will be inducted as AICC general secretary in charge of frontal organisations like the Youth Congress, the Mahila Congress and Congress Sewa Dal.

Some partymen want Sonia to assign him Uttar Pradesh. But reviving the defunct party set-up in the country’s most politically significant state is not child’s play.