Sonia Gandhi, the widow of the former Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, has agreed to campaign for the Congress Party in the forthcoming general elections.

The announcement came in a statement from her office in Delhi after months of speculation about whether she would join active politics to help the party.

Many members of the Congress party believe she is the only person that can save it from disaster at the polls.

Over recent days there have been a series of high profile defections from the party and many people have blamed the leadership of Siteram Kesri for their ills.

Mrs Gandhi, who was born in Italy, first signalled she was willing to play a greater role in the party in August when she agreed to address its annual conference for the first time.

Since then she has been under growing pressure to take up the leadership or at least play a more prominent role in the party.

It is now clear that she will campaign extensively during the run up to the polls although the areas of the country she will visit have not been announced.

In the last elections eighteen months ago Congress was thrown out of office in its worst ever defeat. The party will be waiting now to see whether Mrs Gandhi can turn around their fortunes in time for February.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
 

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