The man widely tipped to be India's next prime minister, Rahul Gandhi, has spoken of his vision of a prosperous country with highter living standards than Britain currently enjoys.

In an interview as he campaigned on behalf of his Italian-born mother Sonia in a by-election, he also explained that the assassination of his father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, had propelled him into politics with a desire to carry on his work.

Mobbed by voters at every village we visited Rahul, 35, whose grandmother Indira Gandhi was also assassinated, said: “Physically, you get used to the threat.”

It was the killing of his father in 1991 by a Tamil suicide bomber, in protest at Rajiv’s decision to send Indian troops into the Sri Lankan conflict, that made his mind up to enter the family business.

“When he died I felt he was doing certain things to modernise the country and he was cut short. What he was doing was on the right track. He was bridging the gap between modern India and traditional India.”

It is Rahul’s desire for India to escape its grinding poverty and surpass the western world that evidently drives his ambitions.

“India is rising, but I want to see it compete successfully with every other country, and I want to transform what you see here — poverty.”

Many of the children in the village we were visiting have no shoes. Water is drawn from a communal hand-pump, carts drawn by horses and bullocks navigate mud roads and villagers cook on dung-fires.

“I would like to help these people have the same living standards you have,” he said.

In the West? “Better than in the West. We’re not here to take (British) jobs, we’re here to empower ourselves.

“We’re a poor country. We have a lot of people in the villages with tremendous potential for entrepreneurship but it is denied to them. Corruption is holding people back, caste is holding us back.”

Last week Rahul announced his readiness to take on the leadership of the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, while national leaders are pushing for him to lead it into the 2009 general election.

These latest moves to fast-track him to high office follow accolades at the party’s conference earlier this year where he was hailed as its future leader.

The scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty which has ruled India for most of its independence years invited The Sunday Times to join him in his car on the campaign trail in Rae Bareli, the constituency that has been the family’s political home since Jawaharlal Nehru led local farmers in revolt against British rule.

Rahul Gandhi is surrounded by young advisers and a phalanx of plainclothes security men and is being driven by his father’s best friend and political confidant, former energy minister Captain Satish Sharma. “One thousand per cent he will lead the Congress,” Sharma said.

“Manmohan Singh is a great prime minister, but after him it’s Rahul. Look out there, see what’s happening. It’s just destiny, it’s beyond anyone’s control.”

Outside, hundreds of villagers in bare feet had waited more than four hours for Gandhi to arrive. When he did they were euphoric, chanting, pressing in on him, desperate for a glimpse of the man they regard as a living god.

Rahul shares his late father’s glamorous looks, his pale skin sporting designer stubble. But he comes across as serious, even bookish. He does not like Bollywood films: he prefers to relax with books on terrorism and business strategy, he says.

Ram Prasad, a local headmaster, explained why charisma was not strictly necessary in a Gandhi: “Rahul is like a god,” he said. “His sister Priyanka and mother Sonia, the family are gods in Rae Bareli and we think of them in an emotional way.”

At the village of Hasnapur he was mobbed in the dark. Petitions were thrust into his hands, arms reached out to grab him and his bodyguards shone powerful torches into the faces of well-wishers, looking for would-be assassins.

It was hot, there was sweat on his brow and as he got back into the car more arms came in through the window, pushing garlands and showering petals.

Despite his dream of India surpassing the West we were travelling through poor, dusty farming villages so far untouched by India’s economic miracle.

Uttar Pradesh is regarded as one of the most caste-bound and corrupt states in India. It is also one in which Congress has been denied power for more than a decade.

Regional parties representing Muslims and untouchables have squeezed its vote, but Congress must make headway here if it is to retain national power. According to senior party figures, including Sharma, Rahul is the best hope the party has.

“He is a free marketeer, he’s pro-business,” said Sharma. “With 10 years in government he will change the face of India. It’s destiny.”

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