Disappointing her supporters, Sonia Gandhi spent most of Friday, the eighth anniversary of her husband former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's death, behind closed doors. And contrary to their expectations, she did not retract her resignation as Congress president either. On Thursday, her office had announced that she had decided to cancel all her public programmes fixed for the day, including a public meeting at the site of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination at Sriperumbudur and an address at a function organised by the Congress party in Delhi. Sonia began her day with an early-morning visit to her husband's shrine, Vir Bhumi. Accompanied by her son, Rahul, daughter Priyanka, and her son-in-law Robert Vadra, she spent about an hour at the site of his cremation, listening to religious hymns. The function was attended briefly by President K R Narayanan, and by Vice-President Krishna Kant, and several luminaries of the Congress party, including Arjun Singh, A K Antony, Kamal Nath, and Ghulam Nabi Azad, as well as friends of the family. She then went on to attend a blood donation camp organised by the Youth Congress in memory of the late prime minister. She made no comment to anyone, or any public statement at either of the two functions, which led to despondent faces around the Congress headquarters in Delhi. "It is a significant day, as it is Rajivji's punyatithi (death anniversary)," said Dharam Pal Mungeri, a Congressman who has been on hunger strike outside the party office in Delhi for the last three days asking that Sonia take back her resignation as Congress president. "We thought that madam might relent, especially after the three traitors (Sharad Pawar, P A Sangma, and Tariq Anwar) were thrown out of the party," he explained. Mungeri is among many Congressmen who have come from UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and other states, and are camping outside the Congress headquarters, a short distance from Sonia's home, in a bid to convince her to change her mind. She had submitted her resignation to the Congress Working Committee this week, after the three CWC members questioned her leadership of the party in the coming general election on the grounds that she was not an Indian-born citizen. While the trio were expelled from the party at a CWC meeting on Thursday, it seems unlikely that Sonia will withdraw her resignation anytime soon. Instead, observers feel she may continue to campaign for the Congress during the election without any post, thus postponing the decision on the leadership of the party until a time closer to the election, perhaps to even after the results are known. That way, they feel, she will escape the odium if the Congress fares badly in the election. On the other hand, if it improves on its previous performance, as is expected so far, she will be seen as the natural candidate for the leadership of the party, and may be then able to stake her claim for the prime minister's post. The last week has revealed a large-scale show of support for Sonia within her party. While one Congress worker attempted to immolate herself in order to convince Sonia to return to her post as party president, several others have declared fasts. In a novel display of support to her yesterday, former Congress MLA Prem Pal 'Samrat' climbed an extremely tall tree outside her home, and threatened to jump off it unless she "came back". Samrat was ultimately convinced to climb down to safety about an hour later. Congress workers have also been routinely burning effigies of the three expelled members of their party once, sometimes twice a day. The scene outside the party office has often been so unruly that the Delhi police has blocked off the entire road to any traffic. However, this show of support has also enthused many Congressmen. "Pawar & Co have united the Congress party like nobody else could have at this juncture," said former member of Parliament Mani Shankar Aiyar, but added that unless Sonia returned to the helm of affairs, the party would suffer dramatically in the election. Congress veteran Jag Pravesh Chandra, who had come to visit members of his party on protest at the office, said he was impressed by the dedication of Sonia's supporters gathered there. "I can't remember when I last saw such a public emotional expression within the Congress party," he reminisced, "Perhaps only during Indiraji's time, or possibly before Independence." It is widely felt that unless the party is able to convince Sonia to reconsider her resignation, or is able to unite behind another leader, the Congress will have to go into the forthcoming electoral battle without a commander. A scenario, most feel, that won't improve their chances at the hustings at all. Correspondent Suhasini Haider has been keeping an Argus eye on 24 Akbar Road
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