With no family scion available to take up the mantle of Rajiv Gandhi, India's Congress Party last week did what any other faction-riven political bureaucracy would have done: fudge. After a two-hour meeting, party leaders appointed P.V. Narasimha Rao, 69, as president. Although Rao boasts an impressive resume -- he is a poet, linguist and former Foreign Minister -- he was selected because, according to colleagues, he is respected by everyone but feared by no one.
The compromise choice postpones what is expected to be a fierce fight among younger politicians for the prize of Prime Minister. That job will be...
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