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New Delhi: Ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi is all set to create a new record as the longest serving president of the party.
Sonia, 61, will complete 10 years in the post on March 14.
In fact she had broken the past record in this regard a couple of years ago, held jointly by her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi and Indira's father Jawaharlal Nehru.
Both Nehru and Indira occupied the post for seven years each. While Nehru served as the Congress party president in three terms, first in 1929-1930, then in 1936-1937 and 1951-1954, Indira completed seven years in two tenures, first in 1959 when her father was the prime minister, and then 1978-1984.
Sonia's husband Rajiv Gandhi had held the post for the maximum number of years at one stretch previously between 1985-1991.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is the otherwise the longest serving president of the party out of the Gandhi-Nehru family. He headed the party for six years between 1940-1946.
However, unlike Nehru, Indira and Rajiv, Sonia is the only member of the family to have headed the party without becoming the prime minister, although she is rated as the most powerful Indian since her handpicked followers Manmohan Singh and Pratibha Patil are the incumbent prime minister and president of the Republic.
Incidentally, there are no plans in the party to celebrate Sonia's achievement.
Sonia also shares another achievement with her illustrious mother-in-law. Both led the party to power after it had lost it. Indira guided the party to victory in 1980 after the Congress party was ousted from power for the first time in 1977, Sonia propelled the party to power in 2004 after a gap of eight years.
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