Sonia joins the party!

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The Congress on Thursday formally declared that Sonia Gandhi had joined the party as a primary member.

Party president Sitaram Kesri, however, did not clearly explain why the announcement was being made now when she joined the party on March 21.

When journalists asked him the reasons for the delay, Kesri merely said the delay was because the party's membership drive was being completed before the organisational polls which will be completed by the extended deadline of June 15.

Answering a pointed query, he asserted that Sonia preferred to be an ordinary member of the party and, therefore, the issue of her taking over the party leadership was irrelevant. When another reporter persisted, Kesri rebuked him, adding that anybody aspiring for posts in the Congress organisation needed to be an active member first.

When asked whether he would renew his offer to Sonia to be a member of the Congress Working Committee, Kesri said, "it is entirely up to her." However, Kesri did not categorically spell out that he was renewing his offer. He reiterated that while he and other senior party leaders had earlier requested her to join the party and provide it with her guidance and wisdom, she had preferred to be among the "crores" of primary Congressmen and women.

When asked whether he would not personally ask her, despite the provisions of the party constitution, to take over the party leader's post, he said, "who am I to make such an offer to Madam?"

Sonia's decision, despite the belated announcement, comes as a jolt to Kesri's adversaries in the Narasimha Rao and Sharad Pawar camps because it has sent out the message that Rajiv Gandhi's widow is with the party chief. Sonia had declined all invitations to join the party after her husband's assassination.

Thursday's announcement is likely to deter party dissidents like A R Antulay and S S Ahluwalia who confronted Kesri on Wednesday and asked him why they were not allowed to speak during the meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party. Antulay is being projected by the Rao and Pawar camps as a likely rival to Kesri in next month's election for the Congress president's post.

The timing of the announcement will also demoralise other potential candidates for the Congress presidency. Kesri thus appears to have won a reprieve to consolidate his grip on the Congress organisation.