It is unlikely if any Indian politician evokes such extreme reactions as Sonia Gandhi does. Either you think she is the saviour India has been waiting for years, or you believe she is the fount of everything that’s wrong with India.

There seems to be no middle way about Sonia Gandhi.

Love her or hate her, you can’t ignore her. Laughed out after the 1999 general election when she led her Congress party to its lowest tally in Parliament, she sprang a surprise five years later by pipping the front-runner Bharatiya Janata Party in a result no one foresaw.

Then she stunned the nation when she turned down the prime ministership and nominated Dr Manmohan Singh instead.

Among the few journalists who understand the Congress president and the way she functions is her biographer, Rasheed Kidwai.

In the updated version of his eminently readable Sonia: A Biography, Kidwai reveals how Rahul Gandhi’s induction into the Congress party was carried out, and discusses how Sonia deftly manouevred her party through crises like the office of profit issue and the India-US nuclear deal.

As India goes through another round of bitterly contested elections, here’s your big chance to debate Indian politics’s most discussed and yet enigmatic personality with someone who knows her.

Find out what Sonia Gandhi means to India, today and 10 years hence.

Join Rasheed Kidwai on the Rediff Election Chat. Friday, April 17, at 4 pm IST. Be there!

Complete coverage: India Votes 2009

Buy Rasheed Kidwai's Sonia Gandhi biography on rediff.com!