It was celebration time at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi as Sonia Gandhi on Friday created history by completing 10 years as its president, an unparalleled feat in the history of the grand old party.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among the first to greet Sonia on the occasion as he drove to her 10 Janpath residence and presented her a shawl.
Her son and general secretary Rahul Gandhi was among the leaders who greeted her.
Outside her residence, adjoining the party headquarters, workers celebrated the occasion by dancing to the accompaniment of drums and with the distribution of sweets.
Women from all walks of life assembled at the office from morning to congratulate the "first woman and the first person to hold office in a senior party position for 10 years."
Party workers shouted slogans like "Sonia Gandhi zindabad" and carried banners of the party chief and her late husband Rajiv Gandhi.
Prabha Thakur, president of All India Mahila Congress, said, "We are here to congratulate her for this achievement. This is a dual achievement. She is the first person to enjoy office for such a long tenure and she is the first woman to achieve it."
Thakur said women activists have assembled at the party office to request her to get the Women's Reservation Bill passed in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament.
Lauding the role of Sonia as party chief, Delhi Mahila Congress leader Seema Abid said, "It is high time people realise that a woman in power helps. It is because of her that the United Progressive Alliance government is united."
"She should now influence all the parties in the UPA government to unanimonsly support the cause of women's reservation," she added.
