What was Mahatma Gandhi's Congress like?

Well, it was the time the leaders walked and the masses used to follow them.

What is Sonia's Congress like?

Oh, the masses still walk but the leaders fly around now.

Sonia's helicopter reached Bhor nearly two hours late amidst heavy rain but the people didn't lose hope of seeing her. Guess why? Because many poor villagers had draped themselves in huge plastic sheets adorned with the Congress flag. Should be news for one Mr Gill.

What was Mahatma Gandhi's Congress like?

The Mahatma was imprisoned at the Aga Khan palace for organising the Quit India movement. He stayed in a simple room and observed an austere lifestyle. He was freed and the country achieved independence in three years.

What is Sonia's Congress like?

The Congress MP from Bombay North-East, Gurudas Kamat, was spotted at Le Meridien -- one of the best five-star hotels in Pune -- before the rally. He left for Bhor only because he hoped his party would win the election with a majority.

One lesson the Congress must learn is to handle disaster management better.

The road to Bhor was only a narrow strip on which thousands of Congressmen had crowded. All of them are believed to be Suresh Kalmadi's men.

But in their enthusiasm, they didn't realise that even Kalmadi might get stuck in the rush.

So Kalmadi's secretary came out of the car and abused the assembled Congressmen in strong language, finally telling them to have the way cleared. and told them to clear the traffic. I asked him, if we missed Sonia's speech would he get a transcript of it for me.

He said, 'Arre, meeting tab tak start nahin hogi jab tak saab nahin pahunchege.' I wondered who the meeting was being conducted for, Sonia Gandhi or Kalmadi?

Like Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar, the rain gods too appeared intent on messing up Sonia Gandhi's scene.

So when the lady finally came in, it was pouring heavily. She was onstage for nearly 40 minutes. And, throughout, the rains refused to stop. All other speakers had to skip their speeches to let her have first go. And immediately after her speech ended, so did the rain.

Poor S B Chavan, Madhavrao Scindia and Suresh Kalmadi. None of them got a chance to strut their stuff, extolling president and party. Anyway, I wonder that when everybody wants to hear the main speaker, why do other leaders have to butt in first.

In her speech Sonia said whatever progress the country had made in the last 50 years was due to the Congress. That required guts, no doubt. With 320.37 million are still below the poverty line (poor being defined as people with a 'monthly per capita consumption expenditure income up to Rs 190'), she can still talk of progress.

Bhor is remotely located, nearly 100 km away from Pune with only a narrow road leading to it. So I wondered why Sonia started her election campaign from Bhor rather than any other place.

Interestingly, nobody in the party headquarters at Pune knew. But we gathered it was because former minister, Anantrao Thopte, wanted that location and because Baramati, Sharad Pawar's bastion, is just 100 km away.

While on lessons the Congress workers need, they could do worse than learn some road manners. They virtually took over the Pune-Satara road and drove very rashly. It looked a bit like an amateur car rally. The villagers were clearly surprised by the behaviour. Worse, when some locals asked for a lift, they were ignored. The racket they raised even caused the buffaloes and goats to stop grazing and look up. Ah, they too had a glimpse of Congress culture.

Of course, Sonia made a hit when she began her speech in Marathi. She started off well and the journalists decided that her entire speech would be conducted in Marathi. But she switched to Hindi immediately. But she'd made her point and won the locals over.

The only problem was that she kept calling Chhatrapati Shivaji, 'Sheeevaji'.

Let me tell you, it caused much embarrassment. That's something for Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray to cash in on, isn't it?

Special Correspondent Syed Firdaus Ashraf just staggered in from Bhor.