NEW DELHI 14 March 2008 Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi observes 10 years in office 

On Mar 14 Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party workers across India plan to celebrate her 10 years as party leader. The Gandhi name and her political prominence make her an inviting target for extremists, particularly on a milestone date. Following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December, Indian government efforts to keep Gandhi safe could be under scrutiny.

She is covered by Special Protection Group security, which is provided to prime ministers, former prime ministers and their immediate relatives. She falls in the highest Z-plus category of security, which includes armed commandos.

Sonia Gandhi was named the third most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine in 2004 and currently ranks 6th. She was also named among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007 by Time magazine. She addressed the United Nations on 2 Oct 2007, Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary, which is observed as the International day of non-violence after a UN resolution passed on 15 Jul 2007.

Gandhi, pressed into politics following the assassination of her husband Rajiv Gandhi on 21 May 1991 by a Tamil suicide bomber, was appointed Congress president on 14 Mar 1998. She agreed reluctantly to campaign for Congress before the 1998 general elections, and following the elections she took over as Congress president from Sitaram Kesari.

Born in Italy on 9 Dec 1946 to Stefano and Paola Maino, Sonia Antonia Maino married Rajiv Gandhi and moved to India. Despite the family's heavy involvement in politics (her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi, daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, was prime minister), Sonia and Rajiv avoided all involvement till her mother-in-law was assassinated by two militant Sikhs in October 1984. After Rajiv Gandhi became the Indian premier in 1984, the spotlight turned to Sonia Gandhi and her foreign origin. The interest increased following a kickback scandal in 1987 that involved the Bofors company, the Swedish armaments group. It is alleged that Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian business man believed to be involved in the scandal, was a friend of Gandhi.

She was elected to Lok Sabha (lower house in India) for the first time in 13th Lok Sabha elections during 1999 and was elected leader of the opposition following the elections. The three general elections 1998, 1999 and 2004 were fought on the main issue of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin. To an extent the whole of India became polarized around this issue, prompting several senior members to resign from the Congress party.

Following the 2004 general elections, Congress headed by Sonia Gandhi came to power. A few days after the election, Gandhi declined the leadership of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha, and by doing so, rejected the post as prime minister. Her action was hailed by some as part of the old Indian tradition of renunciation, while her opponents attacked it as a political stunt. But in a way Sonia Gandhi had come a long way when she was hailed as novice against some of her much established political opponents like Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani.

She is presently the chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha, and the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

Politically, the Indian National Congress(INC) Party and Congress Parliamentary party (CPP) are same. But CPP is the combination of representatives of Congress party of both Lok Sabha (lower house ) and Rajya Sabha (upper house). She is leader of CPP and INC. But when we talked of her declining the post of the Congress Parliamentary party leadership in Lok Sabha (lower house), it meant she declined the post of prime minister ship, since the leader of Lok Sabha would naturally mean taking on the PM role. Jan/08

STORY SUPPLIED BY NEWSAHEAD CORRESPONDENT C.BALAJI, WHO IS AVAILABLE FOR FREELANCE ASSIGNMENTS IN INDIA AND THE REGION. email: mohan balaji