Will Rahul Gandhi be the newsmaker of 2019?

After the 2014 Lok Sabha election where the Congress party's seat strength fell to 44, the year 2018 had brought plenty of sunshine to dispel the gloom that had enveloped the party. Rahul has led from the front all through the year. He made 50 tours to 17 states, including eight poll-bound ones. He relentlessly attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on four key electoral issues the agrarian crisis, the flailing economy, unemployment and the Rafale fighter jets deal. He has unleashed a social media war on the BJP, inventing new phrases such as chowkidar chor hai, which have stuck. He grabbed centre stage in a Lok Sabha debate by hugging a nonplussed prime minister in the full glare of TV cameras to show that he didn't treat his opponents as enemies.