At the constituency level, the Congress propaganda is centred on Rajiv, Sonia and Priyanka. The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chiefs also engage in competitive bouts of flattery. "Sonia's decision to campaign for the Congress is equal to that of Mahatma Gandhi's decision to join the freedom struggle," said Tamil Nadu Congress chief K.V. Thangabalu in Sriperumbudur. Added Congress Legislature Party leader in Andhra Pradesh P. Janardhan Reddy: "From Motilal to Priyanka, the family symbolises a saga of public service."

On her part, Sonia is not discouraging appeals to her to take over the party. In fact, songs and slogans refer to her as the future prime minister. For instance, after her pilgrimage to Sriperumbudur, she issued a statement in Delhi saying only those with merit should be given tickets. It was her response to Congress President Sitaram Kesri's allotting R.K. Dhawan the New Delhi seat. Quick at taking hints, Kesri made up by announcing Arjun Singh's candidature from Hoshangabad. In another bid to placate Sonia, Kesri also included Makhan Lal Fotedar in the coordination committee which looks after Sonia's campaign itinerary. The Congress president has little say even in the poster designs. Sonia is still to give her consent to a poster which shows both of them together. "Sonia has taken over all aspects of the party without formally becoming the president," says an aide. Congress leaders too are now veering around to this view. In Hyderabad, at least six former PCC presidents and former chief ministers were on the dais to demonstrate party unity before the new leader. It is also emerging that Sonia -- oozing confidence after her rallies -- is wary of alliances with other political parties.

In a subtle way, Sonia seems intent on signalling a mood of resurgence in the Congress. To this end, she is consciously cultivating the style and aggression of her mother-in-law, down to the big, round, white-dialled watch with a black strap that resembles the one Indira was associated with. The emulation has not come naturally. Behind the walls of 10 Janpath, Sonia spent countless hours viewing video tapes of Indira and Rajiv's public meetings. The astrologers too communicated their consent to Fotedar when he took her horoscope to the Chamunda Devi temple in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh.

Sonia, say her close aides, quietly began preparations for casting herself in the new mould last October. A senior professor from Benaras Hindu University came in thrice a week to help her with her Hindi. For the south, she decided to copy Indira and began her speech in the local language, wishing the Sriperumbudur gathering a happy Pongal in Tamil; and in Bangalore she extended Sankranti greetings in Kannada. An old trick which elicited the expected response.

The response bordered on hysteria. The crowds who boarded trucks and buses more to catch a glimpse of the "foreigner" than to hear her were as delighted as Sonia was. And though she is expected to continue with the same routine at all her meetings, the few sentences in regional languages -- happily provided by state leaders -- were not the only thing she concentrated on. She also made the people feel special and one with the family: appealing to Tamils saying they had a special place in the hearts of her husband and her children, reminding the crowd in Karnataka that they had voted Indira back to the Lok Sabha from Chikmagalur and speaking in Hyderabad of Indira's association with Medak.

Sonia expends a great deal of energy on her speeches, writing, rewriting, even changing words till the last minute. While her aides, friends and the politicians who have access to her say she is the final decision-maker on her speeches, they also acknowledge that inputs come in from various quarters. Two people she has been relying on in particular are H.Y. Sharada Prasad -- who used to write Indira's speeches -- and close friend Suman Dubey, once information adviser to Rajiv. For political inputs, she looks at detailed notes sent by various Congress leaders, including Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Sheila Dixit and Arjun Singh. Sonia has, in the two months that she has been politically active, also readily granted appointments to state-level leaders, listening to views about issues peculiar to their regions: she discussed Andhra Pradesh with K. Vijayabhaskara Reddy, Maharashtra with Sharad Pawar and Murli Deora, and Karnataka with Oscar Fernandes and Margaret Alva. Though Sonia is still to incorporate their inputs into her speeches, one of her aides says, "It will begin in the next phase when she starts her constituency rounds."

One week into the campaign, Sonia is much more than the Congress' star campaigner. In a significant shift from the Sriperumbudur speech where she said her aim was "not to seek political office and position", in Bangalore she maintained a silence on this front, thus leading the party to believe that she was not out of the reckoning. Through her public pronouncements, she is also keeping her enigmatic qualities alive, retiring to the Raj Bhavans where she normally stays, avoiding questions from the media. Cameras are welcome, questions are not.

Sonia once admitted that her only moment of tension came 15 years after their marriage when Sanjay died and Rajiv gave up private life to stand by his mother in politics. Having taken the plunge herself, Sonia is clearly asking for more. She has instructed the party to fix more meetings without wasting time on receptions. Sonia, it seems, has left the secluded world of 10 Janpath far behind. As her chartered Gulf Stream jet kicks up dust and heat, neither speeches, nor cameras seem an ordeal. The gloves are off. The Gandhis are back in business.

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