Sonia Gandhi as Indian as Mother Teresa, claims Cong (I)

NEW DELHI, Jan 22: The Italian born widow of former premier Rajiv Gandhi is as Indian as Mother Teresa, her party had claimed in a bid to play down a political row over her foreign origins, reports said Thursday, reports AFP.

The Indian Express said the once-dominant Congress Party, hoping to return to power in upcoming national polls and composed songs stressing its star campaigner was as Indian as the Roman Catholic nun.

The move follows accusations by rival parties that she was a "foreigner" who should be barred from leading a political party.

India goes to the polls between February 14 and March 7 following the collapse of a minority coalition.

The Congress which ruled India for around four decades under the Gandhi-Nehru political dynasty, is hoping to exploit the family name to revive its sagging fortunes.

The Express said the party had composed three election songs eulogising the 51-year-old Sonia Gandhi, who is not standing for office but has agreed to act as its campaign figurehead.

One went: There are those who questioned if Mother Teresa was ours after losing mother and husband she carried out her duty, here comes Sonia Gandhi."Hindu nationalist right-wingers have also homed in on her Catholic faith.

Sonia Gandhi became an Indian citizen in 1986, 18 years after her marriage, Mother Teresa, born to Albanian parents and who died last year, had also taken on Indian Citizenship.

Another song starts with the line "Rajiv is my jewel," the third goes "Now that Sonia has come, the Congress will win and everything will be hunky, dory."A party official said 300,000 cassettes of the "Sonia" songs would be distributed across India and played "wherever madam goes."Party sources said songs would be backed by video clips containing vignettes of the Gandhi-Nehru family at work and play including the wedding of Rajiv Gandhi's daughter Priyanka last year.

Sonia Gandhi, who wears a saree in public and speaks Hindu, responded to the jibes last week in a campaign speech, saying she considered herself a daughter of Mother India."She moved to India in 1968 following her marriage, and has continued living in New Delhi since her husband's assassination in 1991.

Hindu nationalists also criticised Mother Teresa, who lived in the country for more than 50 years, they accused her of trying to convert vulnerable Hindu in Calcutta slums to Christianity. Following Mother Teresa's death last year, a Hindu fundamentalist leader opposed her state funeral, arguing such honours should be reserved to true Indians.