Fighting a virtually single-handed battle, Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born president of the Congress party, has emerged with flying colors in this year's general election.

The leader finally silenced her skeptics by sewing a formidablealliance with regional parties to restore Congress as the single-largest party in the 543-strong Lower House of the parliament.

It has not been a cakewalk for the 57-year old Congress president who detested politics and is stated to have said that she'd rather had her children beg than let her husband join politics.

Sonia Gandhi of the famous Gandhi dynasty, which ruled over thecountry for more than 47 years, and her children Rahul and Priyanka, revitalized the Congress party, leading it to challenge the opinion polls that only weeks ago suggested the party had no hope of faring in a good way in this year's election.

She is the fifth woman to lead the party, her predecessors being Besant, Sarojini Naidu, Nellie Sengupta and Indira Gandhi.

Born on December 9, 1946, near Turin, Italy, to a working classfamily, Sonia's connection with India developed when she first metRajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India, at a language schoolin Cambridge in 1965.

They married in 1968. Rajiv, the elder son of Indira Gandhi, kept out of political limelight till the death of his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi in 1980.

She acquired Indian citizenship in 1983. It was not until 1997 that she became a primary member of the party and thereafter in less than a year she was catapulted to the top post to lead a rather fledgling party.

She took the first plunge when she campaigned for the party in 1998, while she was elected to parliament from Amethi, Rajiv Gandhi's seat and Bellary in karnataka.

In 1999, she was re-elected to parliament from Amethi, althoughthe party's tally came down to its lowest of 114.

On her foreign origin issue, she is reported to have said,"India embraced me and I embraced India ... I will be an Indian as long as I breathe."

She would be judged solely on the merits of her policies and programs and of governance, but certainly not on the benchmark of her being a naturalized Indian.

Elections 2004 have at least given a verdict on this.

Source: Xinhua