DATE=8/23/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDIA- POLITICS (L)
NUMBER=2-253031
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=NEW DELHI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Trailing in the polls leading up to national
elections, Sonia Gandhi the leader of India's Congress
Party has turned to her son, to help her win votes.
VOA's Jim Teeple reports from New Delhi, India's
Congress Party appears to be betting on a new
generation of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty to
help revive its prospects.
Text: Until a few weeks ago, 27-year-old Rahul
Gandhi, the son, grandson and great-grandson of Indian
prime ministers was a London-based financial
consultant with little apparent interest in the
turbulent world of Indian politics. That was before
his mother Sonia Gandhi filed papers to run as a
candidate for parliament from two seats - something a
candidate is allowed to do under Indian law.
On Sunday as she made her first major campaign
appearance in the southern Indian town of Villapuram,
near where her husband was assassinated in 1991, Sonia
Gandhi was joined onstage by her son Rahul - signaling
the induction into politics of yet another member of
the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty which has ruled
India for 37 of its 52 years of independence. Unlike
his sister Pryanka, Rahul Gandhi has stayed away from
involvement in politics or the affairs of India's
Congress Party. Eduardo Faleiro, a member of India's
upper house of parliament from the state of Goa, and a
leading Congress Party official, says Rahul Gandhi
will help his mother's campaign.
// FALEIRO ACT //
It's useful for the party to have members of
this family there. It helps us, because the
people trust this family and they believe in
them. Whether it is rich or poor or in the
north or south or wherever it helps us and it
helps the country because they are truly
nationalist and truly secular.
// END ACT //
While both Rahul and his sister Pryanka are now
campaigning for their mother and for other Congress
Party candidates they are not running for
Parliament. In fact until she filed nomination
papers for two seats last week, Sonia Gandhi had never
run for office in her adopted country. Mrs. Gandhi
took over the reins of the Congress Party in 1997
becoming president of the party in 1998. Earlier
this year she led a confidence motion against the
government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
When she toppled the government, Mrs. Gandhi was
unable to form one of her own and elections were
called. Balloting will begin on September 5th and
continue at weekly intervals until October 3rd.
// REST OPT // The issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign
birth has become the dominant election issue in India
and has sparked a heated debate even within the
Congress Party. Three leading regional Party leaders
were forced to resign after they raised the issue
earlier this year.
Recent polls show Mr. Vajpayee's coalition, led by the
Bharitiya Janata Party, winning more than 320 seats in
India's 545 seat lower house, enough to form a
government on its own and deliver a crushing defeat to
Sonia Gandhi's Congress Party. However, Eduardo
Faleiro of the Congress Party says those polls don't
take into account his party's traditional base of
rural strength.
// 2ND FALEIRO ACT //
The polls are only looking at the cities and
they are not looking at the rural areas and that
is where the votes are. And we are going to
emerge as the party with the single largest
amount of seats in parliament.
// END ACT //
With her son by her side, Sonia Gandhi is now
appealing to India's voters to cast their ballots for
the Congress Party. Though she is behind in the polls
as the campaign gets under way, Sonia Gandhi and her
lieutenants appear to be betting that once again the
magic of the Nehru-Gandhi name will help rescue the
Congress Party. (Signed)
NEB/JLT/KL
23-Aug-1999 09:30 AM EDT (23-Aug-1999 1330 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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