Clashes over Gandhi leadership

Mrs Gandhi's supporters call her rival a traitor

By Satish Jacob in Delhi

There have been minor clashes in the northern Indian city of Lucknow as Sonia Gandhi cast her vote in an election which is expected to crown her the Congress Party's president for a second term

The incidents happened when some of Mrs Gandhi's supporters took strong objection when a few people shouted slogans against her. Five people were slightly hurt.

Mrs Gandhi hopes to crush all dissent in the party

Although party members are voting in an election in which the result is a foregone conclusion, the very fact that there are two candidates for the top post is itself significant.

Delegates from all over the country are deciding whether Mrs Gandhi - the Italian-born widow of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi - should continue as party leader or whether her challenger, Jitendra Prasada, deserves any support

Symbolic challenge

One of Sonia Gandhi's ambitions is to crush all dissent in the Congress Party.

Mr Prasada's challenge is purely symbolic

But this has been thwarted by Mr Prasada, an elderly member from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

He has two reasons for contesting the election: to show Sonia Gandhi the importance of internal democracy and to demonstrate that voices other than hers deserve to be heard.

Everyone knows that Mr Prasada cannot hope to defeat her, and that his challenge is purely symbolic.

But from the moment Mr Prasada filed his nomination, there was panic in Mrs Gandhi's camp.

'Traitor'

Her supporters began running around from state to state to ensure that Mr Prasada gets a dubbing.

Their ideal scenario is for him to get so few votes that no-one else will ever dare to question Sonia Gandhi's leadership.

Instead of treating Mr Prasada as a legitimate rival, her supporters have been denigrating him as a traitor.

Ironically, Mr Prasada is suffering the kind of treatment that he in the past has meted out to other party leaders who dared to oppose the leadership at the time.

Eight thousand delegates have voted and the result will be known by the middle of the week.

Even if Mr Prasada wins only 5% of these votes, it will be a moral defeat for Sonia Gandhi.