New Delhi, Nov. 18 :     Soon after President K.R. Narayanan returned from Austria a week ago, Sonia Gandhi drove down to Rashtrapati Bhavan with an appeal high on poignancy and potential for scepticism among opponents. Sonia informed a stunned Narayanan that she and her children wanted to plead for mercy for a woman condemned to death for assassinating Rajiv Gandhi. Sonia?s case before the President hinged on one argument: another child should not be orphaned. Nalini Murugan, one of the four on the death row at a Tamil Nadu jail, should be spared because of her eight-year-old daughter. Congress leaders said the decision to seek clemency for Nalini was taken after a ?painful? discussion among Sonia, Priyanka and Rahul. ?Let no child suffer the miseries of being orphaned by an act of state,? a Congress leader quoted Sonia as saying to her children. Nalini had married Murugan, also convicted in the assassination and facing death by hanging, while in jail. In captivity, Nalini gave birth to a girl, now an eight-year-old living with Murugan?s parents in Australia. The girl used to visit Nalini and Murugan in jail every fortnight for half-an-hour till last month, when she left the country with her grandparents. The family had given up hope of Nalini?s survival. According to Congress sources, an executioner had even begun lubricating the iron trap doors of the gallows in Vellore Jail, where Nalini is lodged. The Tamil Nadu Governor had turned down the mercy plea of the four. The issue is now before Madras High Court, where the hearing concluded yesterday. Highly placed sources said the President was moved by Sonia?s request and he took some time to react. Narayanan will decide on Nalini?s fate on the basis of the home ministry report. But the appeal of the Gandhis is certain to be on his mind when the mercy petition comes up before him. Priyanka had brought up the subject with her mother after reading a report about Nalini waiting for the execution, a family friend said. Sonia, Priyanka and Rahul felt the execution would not bring them any solace. Rahul added that the gesture might bring into focus the futility of terrorist activities that lead to death and destruction. Congress leaders? reaction was on predictable lines. ?It is a daring decision. They have done themselves proud,? a leader said. But, barring organisations known to be sympathetic to the Tamil Eelam cause, other parties did not respond till late tonight. Aware that political motives could be read into the appeal, 10 Janpath had decided to keep it under wraps. But Sonia told Mohini Giri, former chairperson of the National Commission for Women, about the meeting with Narayanan. Giri had called on Sonia to ascertain her views on a mercy petition being filed by the Guild of Service, a non-government organisation. The guild, which has the President as its patron-in-chief, today demanded reprieve for not only Nalini, but also the others on death row for killing Rajiv Gandhi. ?The flimsy nature of material against Nalini, her circumstances, the brutality she alleges of having been subjected to and, above all, the fact that she is the mother of a little girl, are factors which render her execution completely insupportable,? Giri said.