New Delhi, march 15 } For many, it will be just another speech. For the Congress, it could be the unveiling of the future. When Rahul Gandhi speaks for the first time in Parliament tomorrow, party spin doctors and image managers are confident that every word the 34-year-old MP from Amethi utters will position him as a reliable, durable, premium leadership brand.

Over the past few weeks, 10 Janpath?s A team has toiled ceaselessly to create the perfect script for the occasion. Says an insider, ?Every word has been discussed in depth and detail?. For, as a media planner close to India?s Family No. 1, proffers: ?Even though Sonia?s son belongs to the right family tree, projecting a future national leader is tough. Especially in times of live television. The pitch needs to be perfect.?

As yet, the exact content of Rahul?s Budget session speech is classified. But the party?s primary speechwriter says it has been written to project him as a national youth icon who can reach out to both India Invisible and India Happening. ?It will mark him out as someone who has global economic vision yet can be trusted by rural India,? he says.

Image managers have also spent sleepless nights over the kind of attire the fourth-generation member of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty would wear for the day. ?They have settled for a sincere white kurta-pyjama with a jacket,? says a friend.

The young Gandhi?s oratory is unlikely to match his great-grandfather?s India?s ?tryst with destiny? speech. But most Congressmen believe that India?s response to his address will shape the course of their own destinies. avijit ghosh