Mumbai: AICC (All India Congress Committee) president Sonia Gandhi today (Dec 28, 2003) said it is for the people of India to decide who should be their Prime Minister.

"This is a question to be decided by the people of the country. I am not the one to decide about it," Sonia told a press conference in Mumbai when asked whether she is in the race for the Prime Ministership.

Reiterating that the Congress is willing to form alliances with secular parties like BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party), DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and SP (Samajwadi Party) to form a compact front to take on the anti-secular forces, the AICC president stressed the need for all secular forces to join hands to take on the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party).

When asked if the Congress would insist that she should be the leader of the secular front, Sonia said, "We do not interfere into the internal affairs of other parties but the leadership of Congress would be decided by the party."

Referring to party's debacle in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly polls earlier in the month, Sonia said, "We failed to fulfil the aspirations of the people. Also, the BJP's aggressive publicity campaign took them ahead. But we have learnt our lessons and would take care in future."

Asked whether daughter Priyanka and son Rahul would be joining the politics, Sonia said it is for them to decide.

When Sonia's attention was drawn to NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) president Sharad Pawar's recent statement that his party is ready to set aside the contentious issue of foreign origin, she said, "I am not aware of Pawarji's statement, but we have to put aside our differences if we want to defeat anti-secular forces."

The AICC president said she had met Pawar along with other leaders of Opposition in Parliament and that her party is sharing the Government with his party in Maharashtra. "My colleagues are in touch with him (Pawar)," she replied to a query if she had met Pawar.

Asked about carving out a separate state of Vidarbha, she said the party is contemplating whether to set up a coordination committee for the region on the lines of that set up in Telangana.