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Aiyar, Soni frontrunners for
Sonia political secy post

Senior Congress leaders Mani Shankar Aiyar and Ambika Soni have emerged frontrunners for the post of Congress President Sonia Gandhi's political secretary.

However, senior party member Oscar Fernandes pointed out, "Such a thing is not even at the formative stage. I have also read a report to this effect. Barring our party chief herself, nobody knows whether such a post will be created at all."

But that has not prevented some Congress members from pitching their candidature with the expectation for the post, created by former prime ministers Indira Gandhi, and carried on with by Rajiv Gandhi and his successor P V Narasimha Rao.

Nevertheless, a crop of young and ambitious party leaders is quietly jockeying for the position, which, in Congress hierarchy, has gone to exceptionally loyal members.

Janardhan Diwedi, who writes Sonia's Hindi speeches, said he had no inkling on the post.

" I am unaware whether there is any such proposal. There is no provision for our party chief's political secretary in our party constitution. But Indira Gandhi, Rajivji and others had created the post so that the incumbents could facilitate interaction of the party rank and file with the Congress president," Diwedi pointed out.

But he added that Sonia received hundreds of requests for her darshan everyday from loyal party members, including the rank and file. But considering her tight schedule, she could just not afford to meet them even if they came in large groups.

This could be why the proposal for her political secretary was being talked about, Diwedi pointed out, adding that "if this controversy has gained currency, I have nothing to say."

Significantly, Aiyar and Soni are widely regarded as staunch loyalists of the Nehru-Gandhi family, especially Rajiv and now Sonia.

Aiyar has gone on record as asserting in the Lok Sabha on that "Rajivji is still my leader and I consistently draw inspiration from him, although he is no more with us".

Aiyar's assertion of loyalty to Rajiv may have invited disparaging remarks from the Sangh Parivar benches in Parliament, but it has upped his ante in Congress circles, especially in the Sonia camp.

Aiyar has been given a room in the Congress chief's official residence - 10 Janpath - where he is reported to be at the 'beck and call' of Sonia.

Soni gave proof ' signal loyalty ' to Sonia recently when she resigned as party general secretary to campaign for the Congress chief just before the party presidential poll. The only challenger to Sonia was party leader Jitendra Prasada, who died of brain haemorrhage recently.

While Aiyar was not available for comment either at the All-India Congress Committee office or his residence, Soni raised her eyebrows when asked whether she was a candidate for the post.

"Must you believe everything written about me?" she asked.

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