Gandhi poised to continue dynasty is favourite to become PM

India's future: Widow of former prime minister may take over top job after ruling coalition loses confidence vote

THE TANTALISING prospect that a member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty could once again hold sway over the world's largest democracy lurched a step closer yesterday as horse-trading followed the toppling of the Indian government.

Sonia Gandhi, Italian-born widow of Rajiv Gandhi and President of the Congress Party, is in pole position to become prime minister should she and her aides deem the time is ripe.

But in the intrigue-filled world of Indian politics which saw the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition felled by just one vote in Saturday's confidence motion, Congress leaders may choose not to risk their most prized asset at such a difficult juncture.

The unexpected fall of the 13-month Hindu nationalist BJP government is a measure of the volatility of India's political scene. The Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, believed his party managers had it in the bag. His undoing came in the shape of one of the matriarchal figures that pepper the political landscape. Mayawati, who uses only one name, ranged the five MPs of her Bahujan Samaj Party against the government after promising their abstentions on the floor of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament. The champion of the "untouchables"of the Hindu caste system wrong-footed the BJP. It was payback time for the high-caste party which earlier welshed on a deal with Mayawati to share power in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh.

A piqued Mr Vajpayee, immediately tendered the government's resignation to President Kocheril Raman Narayanan.

A committee of Congress leaders yesterday spent 40 minutes with the President. Their key concern was the budget, which must be passed by 13 May, otherwise the government's already-depleted coffers could suffer disastrously.

But across Delhi, parties of all hues were meeting to attempt to stake a claim to be part of the new government. The major parties of the left failed to agree on a united stance to back Congress from outside a coalition. Other smaller parties immediately threw their weight behind Congress, joining the clamour to get a berth in the government where they could exert undue influence because of the slim majority any administration will necessarily enjoy.

Even some in the BJP demanded that it should be given another chance to form a new administration because of the manner of its passing. But Mr Vajpayee said he would prefer to go to the country and told party workers to prepare for mid-term polls.

In this unsavoury setting, Congress leaders held talks with allies who had helped bring down the government.

Yet even if Congress decides to take the lead, its leaders are split on whether Mrs Gandhi, 52, should be prime minister. It would be a simple process even though she is not elected. India's Constitution allows Congress simply to nominate her Prime Minister, giving her six months to win a safe seat.

Praful Bidwai, a political commentator, explained Congress's dilemma: "One view is that she's the only viable leader. On the other hand, there are those who think that unless she's sure of heading a viable government, she shouldn't allow her image to be sullied. Either way, as chairperson and party president, she'll be in charge."

But he believes there is little chance of stability. "I'm not certain what's going to happen now. I think there's not much chance of purposeful, cohesive government. The best thing would be to call a very early election to clear the air."

Mother of a nation?

THE REIGNS of power are hers for the taking. But even if Sonia Gandhi, the widow of India's assassinated prime minister, Rajiv, rejects the proffered premiership, everyone knows she will be in control.

For the 52-year-old woman who bears the name of India's most enduring political family, the journey to the brink of ruling almost a billion people has been a tortuous and often painful one. Yet it is all the more remarkable considering she only entered the murky world of Indian politics less than two years ago. Her abhorrence of politics was shaped by tragedy. She was close at hand in 1984 when her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, was killed by her Sikh bodyguards.

Until then she had lived in relative obscurity with Rajiv, who chose a career as a pilot over politics. Born Sonia Maino into a Turin business family in 1946, she studied English at Cambridge, where Rajiv also studied. Her father opposed their marriage because there was "too much difference" between them. But they married anyway in 1968 and she became a naturalised Indian who now speaks Hindi but with an Italian accent.

She did her best to prevent Rajiv taking up where his murdered mother had left off. "I fought like a tigress - for him, for us and our children, for the life we had made together," she once wrote.

"I was angry and resentful towards a system which, as I saw it, demanded him as a sacrificial lamb. It would crush and destroy him - of that I was certain." She lost the fight and he swept to power, only to be thrown from office by an arms scandal. In the battle for re-election in 1991, Rajiv was murdered by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber. Mrs Gandhi long rejected the Congress Party's blandishments to enter politics opting instead to protect their children Priyanka and Rahul, while maintaining the poise of the dutiful Indian widow.

For years she had used the Gandhi name to manipulate the party behind the scenes from her Edwin Lutyens-designed mansion in Delhi and after Congress's drubbing in the 1996 election, cracks began to appear in her resolve.

The following year she became a rank-and-file member, soon after accepting the party presidency. The prospect of an even greater defeat at the polls last year lured her on to the campaign trail.