How do I show my support for supreme leader Sonia? That seems to be the thought on the minds of her supporters as they stream in from various places to Delhi. There are those like Komireddi Geetha Reddy, MLA from Andhra Pradesh, who has been on hunger-strike since Sunday, demanding that Sharad Pawar, P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar be expelled from the party. More have followed after Sonia submitted her resignation on Monday evening. Overnight, seven more tents have come up, full of Congressmen determined to display their "undying" support for the party president... except, their demand now is that she withdraws her resignation. Incidentally, in view of the crowds the Congress headquarters have attracted, special catering vans have moved onto 24, Akbar road, now shut to traffic, along with water tanks and the usual hawkers and poster-sellers. The Great Congress Revolt has created anarchy in the party; but it has also created few temporary jobs for quite a few! There is another section of supporters who believes that the pen is mightier than starvation. This group has taken to writing support-letters. Scribes hanging around the party headquarters are now weary of Congressmen who accost them to hand out copious letters of support from various office bearers, parliamentarians and other Congressmen, all exhorting Sonia to withdraw her resignation, as well as to noting their own support to her. The letters, all painfully flowery, refer to Pawar & Co as Mir Jafar and, alternatively, Jaichands. Sonia herself has been addressed as the "most exalted", "supremely highest", and even "replica of Indiraji." When the blitz began Monday afternoon, there were only three letters with about 10 signatories on each. By Tuesday evening, the count was up to 55, with an uncounted number of signatories. After the four Congress chief ministers 'quit', still others showed their support with many office-bearers of the party as well as the entire Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress resigning. Their demand: "Madam must come back." Nobody in Delhi quite agrees on what exactly Sonia's USP is. After all, if being married to a Gandhi qualified her, then what about Maneka Gandhi? Most do agree that her looks, especially the fair colour of her skin, is a great pull in a country like India. She is no ordinary pin-up, though. Rajinder Gurraiya has been selling posters of Congress leaders and other Congress paraphernalia at the party office for 20 years. He reckons that Sonia's tenure as Congress leader has increased his business tenfold. "Nobody wanted a picture of Narasimha Rao for their walls," he says, "And even less wanted Sitaram Kesri. But Sonia has outstripped even Rajiv and Indiraji." As for Nehru and Shastri, he told me, only the really aged want to buy their pictures. How the mighty have fallen! For years Congressmen have won elections on the plank that nobody but their party can give the country stable governance. Over the last few years, however, this has slowly eroded to the point that it is not a plank anymore. Last month saw the BJP-led alliance claiming the TINA (There Is No Alternative) factor in its favour. So, several scribes were bemused at Tuesday's press briefing when Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi, asked about his party's chance in light of this weeks developments, started replying, "There is no alternative --" At which point he realised his gaff and changed tracks as quick as a politician, "--to Mrs Sonia Gandhi!" Correspondent Suhasini Haider would give a month's pay to return home from the Congress headquarters, where she has been camping for many days.
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