Sonia completes 10 yrs as Cong President

It was celebration time at Congress headquarters in the capital as Sonia Gandhi created history by completing ten years as its president, an unparalleled feat in the history of the grand old party.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among the first to greet Gandhi on the occasion as he drove to her 10-Janpath residence and presented her a shawl.

Her son and General Secretary Rahul Gandhi was among the leaders who greeted her.

Outside her residence, adjoining the party headquarters, workers celebrated the occasion dancing to the accompaniment of drums and distribution of sweets.

Women from all walks of life assembled at the office from morning to congratulate the "first woman and the first person to hold office in a senior party position for ten years."

Party workers shouted slogans like "Sonia Gandhi zindabad" and carried banners of the party chief and her late husband Rajiv Gandhi.

Prabha Thakur, President of All India Mahila Congress, said, "We are here to congratulate her for this achievement. This is a dual achievement. She is the first person to enjoy office for such a long tenure and she is the first woman to achieve it."

Thakur said woman activists have assembled at the party office to request her to get the Women's Reservation Bill passed in the ongoing budget session of Parliament.

Lauding the role of Gandhi as party chief, Delhi Mahila Congress leader Seema Abid said, "It is high time people realise that a woman in power helps. It is because of her that UPA government is united".

"She should now influence all the parties in the UPA government to unanimonsly support the cause of women's reservation," she added.