Sonia’s cutouts in Jalandhar. (PTI)

Solapur, April 2: Sonia Gandhi prefers to let people decide on her foreign origin in the face of a relentless onslaught by her rivals on the issue.

“The more they say such things, the more it helps me and my party,” the Congress chief said midway through her roadshow at Solapur yesterday, when quizzed about Narendra Modi’s statement that made her and her son Rahul out to be “a cow and a hybrid calf”.

The Gujarat chief minister had also said at a rally in his state that a recent survey showed that not one among 20 shopkeepers in Nadiad were ready to employ Sonia as a clerk and Rahul as a driver. “And she wants to become the PM,” he is said to have added.

“I have faith in the people and the Indian democracy. I am certain they will make the right decision at the right time,” Sonia said, putting the onus on voters to decide the origin issue.

A Congress leader close to Sonia said she is “tired” of the tirade against her. “Madam has stopped reacting to it. But when someone throws such questions at her, quoting Narendra Modi and Vinay Katiyar (the Uttar Pradesh BJP chief), she has to answer. But I think she will soon just say ‘pass’ because it doesn’t make sense to her.”

The Congress president,however, took a dig at her rivals yesterday when she said “this is what the Prime Minister’s party leaders do when he lectures about decency”, in a reference to Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s call not to target rivals personally.

But the pressure over the origin issue does not appear to be abating. Vajpayee himself told tribals from Jawhar at a rally yesterday in Thane that “whether a foreigner can occupy a high (constitutional) office in the country is a matter of debate, which should take place in a calm and composed manner”.

Sonia hit back, saying the BJP is targeting her instead of talking about people’s concerns because it has no issue to campaign about.

“There were those who said many negative things about Indiraji and Rajivji, but the love of the people kept increasing. Let them say what they want. I think it will help us eventually,” she added.

The origin issue, however, is a bone of contention not just with the Congress’ rivals. “Yes, this is the big issue as many within the NCP are still saying, and quite openly at that, that the foreign origin issue is very much there,” a Nationalist Congress Party leader from Solapur said.

The NCP is the Congress’ ally in Maharashtra. “Privately, many things are being said. But the party, at least for now, has taken a line and most of us are sticking to it,” the leader added, referring to the NCP’s decision not to rake up the origin issue for the sake of a national alliance against the ruling NDA.

Ramdas Athavale, the chief of a Republican Party of India faction that is supporting the Congress-NCP alliance, made matters worse when he said at the rally that either Sonia or Sharad Pawar could be Prime Minister.

A senior Congress leader from Mumbai admitted the lack of chemistry between the two leaders, evident at their first joint rally since Pawar broke away from the Congress five years ago and noted by people and politicians alike.

“There is a bit of awkwardness between the two leaders because they have joined hands after almost five years. Beech mein to scene kafi bigad gaya tha (In between, the situation was really bad). (So) What do you expect?” the leader asked.

Worse still was the news that Pawar would be unavailable for campaigning as he would undergo a surgery some time next week. Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, however, refused to read more into it.

“Pawar hasn’t called me about it yet but he will be in the forefront of the campaign, that much I can assure you,’’ Shinde said. “We are in it together.”