When turns Jitibabu - let's just say it right at the beginning - oozes style. A gold Cross is tucked discreetly away into a pocket of his understated black-and-white checked Fab India jacket. And his bass voice, quite like the baritone of some of those strong character-actors of old Hindi films, conjures up a picture of a benevolent, aristocratic landlord. He stands amidst a motley crowd at his New Delhi residence, a little stooped, but a picture of quiet dignity. 'That's a nice jacket,' someone tells him. 'You've been wearing these great jackets every day. What's up?' Jitendra Prasada - grim all this while - smiles. 'When you are going to become the President of the Congress, you must dress accordingly,' he replies. Prasada, like everybody else in the Congress, knows that's not going to happen. The MP from Shahjahanapur, who announced his decision to contest for the post of the party president on Sunday, is not going to defeat Sonia Gandhi - the party structure is too leader-centric to let that happen. But Prasada, clearly, has stirred up a storm in his moribund party by raising a finger at Gandhi's coterie, led by former minister Arjun Singh. 'This is a battle between coteries and grassroot Congress workers,' says Prasada. It's not just Sonia campers who point out that as long as Prasada was in a caucus himself, coteries didn't seem to bother him much. Many hold that the fight, on paper, may be all about the party losing sight of its principles, and the consequent neglect of the humble worker. But for Prasada, that humble worker is Prasada himself. Ever since Sonia Gandhi replaced him as the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Prasada was waiting patiently for a party post or responsibility. When that didn't happen, Prasada decided to stand up and be counted. The battle for the president's post was one way of fighting back. 'He is a quiet and reserved man, almost shy,' says a friend. 'But when he gets angry, there is no stopping him.' There have been other battles for the post of the president of the Congress in recent years, but Prasada's case is different. Though Sonia loyalists hint that the BJP is behind Prasada's campaign, and that a great deal of money is going to be spent to influence people, few really believe that. For one, Prasada has not just been a loyal Congressman, his impeccable background - and everyone knows this matters in the Congress - also reflects a largely secular, multi-cultural approach that once typified the Congress. His grandfather was a deputy commissioner and his grandmother, Purnima Devi, was a niece of Rabindranath Tagore and an early reformist. Their marriage, one of the first prominent inter-provincial weddings, was the talk of the town in the early 1900s. Prasada's mother, a Sikh, came from Kapurthala and his father was a Congressman close to former UP chief minister G.B. Pant. Prasada himself married a Thakur from Himachal Pradesh with old money and political connections. His house in Shahjahanapur - called Prasada Bhawan - is an ancient haveli stuffed with some beautiful furniture and old oils. And Prasada, a great host and a gourmet himself, experiments with different kinds of meats, mostly roasts, and serves them to visitors who drop in at the oddest of hours. Prasada came into politics after the death of his father. He became a member of the UP Legislative Council in 1970 and was then elected to Lok Sabha in 1971. When a good number of old Congressmen left Indira Gandhi for the Syndicate, H.N. Bahuguna tried to bring in some young people to give a boost to the party. Among them were Prasada and Mickey Mian - the erstwhile ruler of Rampur, whose widow, Noor Begum, is one of Prasada's main lieutenants. But it was Rajiv Gandhi who turned Prasada into an effective backroom boy. When Gandhi had just taken over as Prime Minister, he told a friend that Jitibabu - as Prasada is generally known - was one of his few trustworthy advisers. 'Others start to throw their weight around the moment they start working with me,' he had said. Prasada - once in Rajiv Gandhi's own coterie - was the political secretary to the Congress president, a post he continued to hold even after P.V. Narasimha Rao took over as party president. Legend has it that it was during this period that Prasada had his first falling out with Sonia Gandhi. One of Gandhi's close aides went to him and suggested that he keep Sonia informed about all that was happening in the Rao camp. 'But Prasada wouldn't do that. He told Sonia that if she wanted him to resign, he would do so. But as long as he held the post of Rao's adviser, he wouldn't stab him in the back,' says the friend. Prasada got along with Rao, and when he was sent to Uttar Pradesh it was thought that he would be able to revive the dying party in the state. But the two had their differences over Ayodhya. And when a section of party leaders sat down together to oust Rao with Kesri, it was Prasada who was in the forefront of the campaign. And when Kesri had to be removed, it was again Prasada who went to 10 Janpath to persuade Sonia Gandhi to attend the CWC meeting that drew her into politics. When Prasada decided to contest the party president's post late last month, his friends were quick to point this out to him. 'Sonia Gandhi was needed then,' Prasada is said to have replied. 'But now, we need a different thrust.' Had Rajesh Pilot been alive, the Gujjar MP from Dausa would have, no doubt, been in Prasada's shoes. A senior Congress leader maintains that before Pilot died in an accident, the dissidents had decided that he would fight Sonia Gandhi, with the support of two former Congress presidents, Rao and Kesri, and the backing of Prasada. But the death of Pilot and Kesri and the conviction of Rao brought the house of cards down. Finally, it was left upon Prasada to carry on the battle. For Prasada, this is just the first step. The 62-year-old agriculturist (he did his graduation in agriculture) knows the land needs to be tilled well before it bears fruit. 'Prasada will lose this election,' says an associate, 'but he won't be a loser.'