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India's Congress party says welcoms Gandhi hir

NEW DELHI: India's ruling Congress party said on Friday it would embrace Rahul Gandhi, son of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, if he decided to join politics.

"The decision is up to him, but if he joins, we will welcome him," Congress spokesman Vithal Gadgil told Reuters.

Rahul Gandhi recently turned 25, the minimum age to run for electoral office under Indian laws. He is scheduled to make a public appearance next week at Amethi, the constituency of his father.

The planned visit triggered media speculation that he was setting the ground for an entry into politics as the next generation of the Nehru dynasty, which gave independent India its first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

His daughter, Indira Gandhi, was prime minister for all but two years from 1966 to 1984, when she was assassinated by Sikh bodyguards shortly after she ordered an army operation to flush separatist militants from Sikhdom's holiest temple.

After she was killed, her son, Rajiv, took over. While campaigning to regain power for the Congress party, he was assassinated in 1991 by suspected Sri Lankan Tamil separatists. When prime minister, Rajiv had sent Indian troops to fight the rebels in Sri Lanka.

The Nehru-Gandhi family's charisma has cemented the fractious Congress party which has ruled India for most of the 48 years since freedom from British rule in 1947.

The disputes within a party that spans wide shades of opinion have grown considerably worse in the past year.

A breakaway faction has been pressing Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv's Italian-born widow, and her family to take an active interest in Congress party politics.

The group, led by former cabinet minister Arjun Singh, has accused Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao of ignoring the Gandhi family's political legacy.

Some Congress members were quick to press Sonia Gandhi to take over the party leadership after her husband's death, but she turned down the offer.

Petroleum Minister Satish Sharma, a close friend of the Gandhis, recently offered to vacate the Amethi seat he represents after Rajiv's death in favour of the Gandhis.-Reuter