Indian opposition leader Sonia Gandhi faced a leadership challenge Sunday after a veteran politician filed papers to compete against her in upcoming elections for Congress president.
Senior Congress leader Jitendra Prasada filed his nomination for the November elections at the Congress party headquarters here amid clashes between his supporters and Gandhi admirers.
This followed Sonia Gandhi filing her nomination to seek re-election as head of the Congress, India's oldest party, on Saturday.
The Congress president post has traditionally been held by the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty without any contest.
But the ageing Prasada, who was a confidant of Sonia Gandhi's late mother-in-law Indira Gandhi and late son Rajiv Gandhi, has spoken out against the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, saying the party was being run undemocratically by her "coterie."
Elections for the new Congress president are due to be held on November 11 or 12, and are being contested amid growing militancy in the troubled state of Kashmir, rising fuel prices and an industrial slowdown.
In a bid to shore up the ailing fortunes of the Congress party and her hold over the party ahead of the November elections, the reclusive Gandhi has tried to change her political image.
Arguably India's most powerful woman, Gandhi is desperately trying to shed the image of an aloof leader, ensconced in her tightly-guarded New Delhi home and surrounded by close advisers
In the past she has traveled around India by plane or helicopter, often turning up hours late for public meetings and then leaving after a short speech delivered in heavily-accented Hindi and a wave to the teeming crowds.
But last month she eschewed her trademark security paraphernalia and for the first time took a scheduled train to visit a troubled area in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh -- NEW DELHI (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
