India's Nehru-Gandhi scion, Rahul Gandhi, will soon become the head of the country's ruling Congress party, taking over the reins from his mother Sonia Gandhi in the next few weeks, local media reported Saturday.

The coronation of the 41-year-old Rahul is likely in "four to eight weeks" and his mother and current Congress President Sonia would restrict her role to providing broad directions to the country's oldest political party, local dail The Economic Times quoted unnamed senior party leaders as saying.

Sonia has been at the helm of Congress party since 1998.

Rahul will be a year older than his father, the late Rajiv Gandhi, who took over as prime minister and party chief in 1984 after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

With Rahul taking over the party, recurring rumours of a leadership change in the government will also be put to rest, though Congress leaders told the newspaper that there is no plan to change horses in mid-stride.

Rahul, a Member of Parliament representing the Amethi constituency in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is currently General Secretary of the Congress party. He entered politics in 2004.

An MPhil from Cambridge University, Rahul had earlier worked at the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm, in London before coming back to India in 2002 to become one of the directors of Mumbai-based technology outsourcing firm Backops Services Private Ltd.

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