NEW DELHI, Jan 7: By the time she has finished campaigning for the Congress, Sonia Gandhi would have covered enough miles to qualify her for the frequent flyer's bonus. The only catch is that the Special Protection Group responsible for her security is insisting that she travel by a private aircraft instead of commercial airlines (even though it would hike the poll expenses of the candidates' whose constituencies she visits).The Congress party's star campaigner has indicated to the AICC - and to individual leaders who have met her in the last week - that she is ready for a ``strenuous'' campaign. With that, Election '98 is all set to become a Sonia Gandhi versus Atal Behari Vajpayee show.The first phase of her campaign programme in January will be a ``spiritual'' kick-off in Sriperumbudur where her husband was assassinated six-and-a-half years ago. After the emotive start, she will go in for the ``political'' kick-off in the South, where the Congress is better placed than in the north, starting in Bangalore, then going on to Hyderabad, Cochin and Goa where there are a sizeable number of Christians.At one time she had considered starting in Amethi, but the idea was abandoned because there is nothing much stretching out for the Congress in the politically barren plains beyond Rae Bareilly.Sonia Gandhi is getting ready to address three to four meetings a day in February and has told the party to arrange them keeping in mind constituencies with a rural-urban mix, the Dalit factor and backward areas, besides hitting the state capitals. Her children, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra, are not likely to accompany her on the campaign trail.Another nightmare for the SPG are the night-halts she may have to make, and the security agency would like her to return to base in Delhi as much as possible after her forays in the field. She will not be able to stay at Raj Bhavans, and circuit houses or hotels will be problematic.Soon after announcing the first lap of her itinerary today, a team led by Congress General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad left for 10, Janpath to finalise her programme with the SPG.The Indian attitude is one tactile in its sensibility, particularly in poll campaigning and it reacts to touch and proximity - attributes one has not seen with Sonia. People used to react with euphoria when Indira Gandhi reached out to them at meetings and threw garlands at them in her inimitable style. Rajiv flouted his security drill in the 1991 poll campaign for this very reason.One should recall people were happy for having touched the sleeve of the legendary MGR who used to be equated with divinity because of the mythological roles he had played on screen. And, one touted reason for Jayalalitha's loss in the last election was her heavy security cordon.It remains to be seen how Sonia Gandhi handles her public contact. So far her image has been aloof, cold and inscrutable. Though ten days have elapsed since her decision to campaign for the Congress, she has not come out once to greet the hundreds of people who gather outside her residence at 10, Janpath hoping to get a glimpse of her. So far, they have to be satisfied with meeting her private secretary, Vincent George.Her statement announcing her decision to campaign for the Congress had an imperious ring.It was not word from her, but a statement issued ``from the office of Sonia Gandhi''. It was somewhat like a message which might come from the Buckingham Palace in London. But, even in England the monarchy has been forced to thaw following Diana's death.Sonia Gandhi has come a long way from her public appearance in Amethi over two years ago when she had first talked about the delay in the investigation into her husband's assassination. She had spoken in Hindi but there was a tentativeness about it. When she spoke at the AICC session in Calcutta in the first week of August last year, her Hindi was impeccable and without a trace of accent, though her speech in the language was limited to five sentences after which she switched to English. (In earlier years she was schooled in Hindi by Ratnakar Pandey) She had also perfected little gestures like the wave of the hand by Indira Gandhi.Congress leaders who are in touch with her say that Sonia Gandhi is working on her speeches with the uncompromising zeal of a sub-editor!Few doubt that Sonia Gandhi will draw large crowds at the rallies she addresses. (So did Lakshmi Parvathi and Maneka Gandhi at one stage.) She has enthused the Congress workers. She has provided a photograph and a theme for the party's posters. She is likely to appeal to women, particularly in rural areas. But how much difference will it make to the Congress in terms of votes? The answer to that question will decide the outcome of the coming election.
