Indian Political Structure needs to change

Rahul Gandhi hit the nail on the head - India's political structure needs to change (news). Even though India is a democracy like the US, the political structure is very different. In the US, the President is directly elected by the people, and this reduces the President's dependency on other congressmen, though it does not eliminate altogether. That really helps drive decisions at the national level. In India, no top leader like the President or Prime Minister is directly elected, and this means they have to rely on local politicians or political parties for support, causing all kinds of alliance politics woes. It is also not being possible for a national leader to emerge, since there is no direct national level election where people are forced to make a choice of one leader. That is simply not helping drive strategy or decisions at the national level, since the leader's hands are always tied by some local party or other who would indirectly elect. Of course there are other problems like a rubber-stamp President post. India will benefit if people are forced to pick a Prime Minister of their choice through direct election.