NEW DELHI: Sonia Gandhi is planning to reenter public life at the end of May after the end of the one year mourning for Rajiv.
Gandhi will be undertaking an extensive tour of the country after May 20 the first anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination according to sources at 10 Jan path. The detailed tour itinerary for her visit to various states is under preparation.
“Sonia ji is a most respected member of the Congress family and certainly will have a definite say in party matters” these sources said. “She is not the kind of person who will remain a mute spectator to happenings around her. In due course of time she will be a force to reckon with.”
This assertion is interesting in the light of the results of the Congress Working Committee election at Tirupati where R.K.Dhawana family confidante came fifth in the of 10 winners with a large number of votes.
The sources say despite her decision not to appear in public during the mourning period the number of people visiting the Gandhi family had been increasing daily.
During the week preceding the Congress session at Tirupiati Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao and several senior party Leaders and Union Ministers had called on her.
Initially her tour will be in connection with the work of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation which she heads. During the last 11 months the Foundation has established itself and donations have swelled its coffers which now contain over Rs 100 crore.
Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka have till now declined to accept party posts offered to them by the Congress Working Committee as well as the District Congress Committee of Agra.
Whether reentry into public life ends this reluctance remains to be seen.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 1, 1992
