News India Xtra@newsIndiaxtraSonia Gandhi stepped back into public life in January 1998 with a speech at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, where her husband Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. The address kicked off the Congress party's campaign for the 1999 polls.
She said she had stayed out of politics since his death, but now felt it was time to come forward with her concerns about where India stands. She warned against parties that stoke religious, caste and regional divisions, and called Congress the only truly national party able to deliver steady rule.
