Sonia Gandhi is set to become Congress President again and her election will be ratified at the next All India Congress Committee (AICC) plenary which is likely to be held in Mumbai by year end when the party will mark 125 years of its formation, the Press Trust of India reported. Gandhi, who has remained at the helm for 12 years, has created a record of being the longest-serving party president. She took over the reins of the Congress in April 1998 following the exit of Sitaram Kesri. Congress leaders from Maharashtra, where the party has been in power for over a decade, have already approached the central leadership to hold the plenary in Mumbai where the party was formed way back in 1885. Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and PCC President Manikrao Thakre met Sonia Gandhi yesterday and discussed the preparation for the celebration of 125 years of the party and also the organizational elections in the state. While no decision has been taken on the venue for holding the plenary, it is significant that Mumbai had hosted the 1985 centenary of the Congress when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister. It was in Mumbai in August 1942 that Mahatma Gandhi had launched the Quit India Movement which eventually resulted in Independence five years later.
