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A leader called Sonia

I remember the day Sonia Gandhi took over as Congress president. Many party leaders believed that she would be a disaster. At least half a dozen working committee members argued with me on that point. She was no patch on Indira Gandhi or Rajiv, they said, and would lead the party to oblivion.

After the recent assembly election, the same members have changed their views. They now tell me the way Sonia is functioning she will prove to be another Indira. I only laugh at them.

Similarly, the top leadership of the BJP also ridiculed her then. It felt that it could easily demolish the Congress under her. A BJP leader, who now holds one of the highest offices in India, even told me that his party was just waiting for Sonia to become Congress president.

"The day she takes over all our problems will be solved," he said, "We will demolish her in public eyes."

What a volte face! Now the same BJP leaders are nervous of Sonia. They battle for survival. The same leader today tells me she is shrewder than Indira!

It cannot be denied that Sonia has done a lot for the party in the last six months. She implemented the ideas that she closely observed Rajiv and Indira following. She is a keen observer with blade-edge memory, that much I know.

As party president, she has taken a position from where no one is close to her and no one is far. She does not have any coterie. Those Congress leaders who pretend to be close to her are bound to eat humble pie. So far she is maintaining the principle that the Congress president is like a good father who gives equal affection to all his children.

In Madhya Pradesh, despite all the manipulations, she supported Digvijay Singh because she knew his capabilities. Similarly, she rewarded Ashok Gehlot for his hard work. Everyone knows that certain leaders claiming proximity to her were eyeing these posts. All the working committee members say she listens to everyone patiently. Even a person like Sharad Pawar is happy with her personal behaviour.

Sonia's credibility has increased among the masses as she is not in a hurry to grab power. If she wants power, it wouldn't take her more than 10 days. But she is patient. Her strategy seems to be to give the BJP enough rope to hang itself. She knows with every passing day the BJP is losing and the Congress gaining. It's better this way, she feels, because then you can come to power on your own.

The BJP and the third front are scared of Sonia now. Nobody knows when she is going to topple the government. Her equation with Jayalalitha has improved a lot. She is working 14 hours a day and writing her own speeches. Unlike top BJP leaders, she does not talk to camera everyday. She avoids controversies. She brought many changes after the Pachmarhi convention and is trying to implement a code of conduct. Congress, thus, is all set for a face-change.

Sonia knows that if she adopts a good strategy she will get Maharashtra, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the Congress base has widened dramatically. Against the aura of the Nehru dynasty, issues like caste, creed and religion have paled.

An alliance between the Congress and All India Anna DMK now appears a near certainty. This will decide the Vajpayee-led coalition's future in the coming months. Interestingly, there is no middleman between Jayalalitha and Sonia. They talk over the telephone directly. Jayalalitha's decision about the Lok Sabha deputy speaker was the outcome of this new friendship. She is not only refraining from criticising Sonia, but has also made several gestures to build cordial atmosphere between their parties.

Jayalalitha, it is learnt, recently said the Congress always gave her more respect and importance than the BJP. "Under Rajiv Gandhi's leadership, when the Congress had 415 members in the Lok Sabha and the AIADMK were only 10, they consulted us on every important issue," she remarked.

The statement clearly demonstrates that she considers the Congress a more comfortable ally than the BJP. And one issue on which the views of both parties converge is the dismissal of the K Karunanidhi-led DMK government in Tamil Nadu. The Congress has been demanding its removal, which suits the AIADMK fine.

Jayalalitha is said to be eyeing the 21 per cent votebank of the Congress, which can help her in capturing Tamil Nadu in the next assembly election. The Congress led by the Nehru-Gandhi family has always polled 21 to 23 per cent votes in the southern states. Rajiv Shukla