"Mrs Antonia Maino lacks the basic quality of love and loyalty to this country." "Making Sonia prime minister shouldn't be contemplated. All right thinking people should ponder over this." "AIADMK is committed to supporting only an Indian to become the prime minister."

On September 2, when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa let the world know that Congress President Sonia Gandhi was Antonia Maino before her marriage, she revealed nothing new. Equally well known were some other points she made at the press conference: that it was only in 1983, 15 years after her marriage, that Sonia acquired Indian citizenship, and that her family was accused of smuggling Chola period bronzes from Chennai to Italy. While the Supreme Court is monitoring the CBI probe into the antiques smuggling on the basis of a petition filed by Janata Party's Subramanian Swamy, details of Sonia's acquired name and citizenship were the stuff of the National Democratic Alliance's 1999 Lok Sabha election campaign. With polls a good two years away, why has Jayalalithaa raked up an issue that was considered settled by a mandate-the Congress won 111 Lok Sabha seats, its lowest tally ever-three years ago?

Nonetheless, the matter has revved up political circles in Delhi. The BJP responded enthusiastically to the resurrection of the "keep the foreigner out" campaign. While party President M. Venkaiah Naidu hinted that Sonia's citizenship could again become a poll issue, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani concluded that Sonia ought to be worried after Jayalalithaa's offensive.

The Congress responded by burning Jayalalithaa's effigies, issuing statements and producing technical evidence to disprove her claims. Party chief ministers and CWC members engaged in competitive genuflection. Sonia's political secretary Ambika Soni, who dismissed Jayalalithaa's offensive as inconsequential, warned that if the chief minister took the campaign across the country, Congress workers would give a fitting reply. "If a finger is pointed at our leader, party workers will break that finger," she declared.

DESIRED IMPACT: Congress workers burn Jayalalithaa's effigies in Chennai

Non-Congress opposition parties, barring the NCP were conspicuously silent. Even the CPI(M), which is usually enthusiastic about Sonia's leadership, did not contradict Jayalalithaa. Only party MP Nilotpal Basu explained, "We think it (Sonia's Italian origin) is a non-issue. It was clinched after the Constitution Review Commission-set up after the 1999 polls to go into the issue-refrained from recommending a bar on people of non-Indian origin occupying high constitutional offices."

By pouring scorn on Sonia, Jayalalithaa has raised more questions about her own motives than doubts about the Congress leader's credentials to become prime minister. Was the AIADMK leader trying to move closer to the BJP? Had she struck a deal with Delhi to bail her out in the tansi land deal case pending in the Supreme Court? More important, is she nursing prime ministerial ambitions?

Even though her offensive against Sonia may appear to have served all these purposes, the campaign betrays a political game plan. "It is not an outburst, only a studied response at a time when the general elections are drawing near and the media is projecting her (Sonia) as the next prime minister," she admits.

STOIC SILENCE: The assault comes just when Sonia has widened her acceptability

Clearly at the heart of the conflict between the two women is the prime ministerial office. "Jayalalithaa wants to be a national leader. If she attacks Vajpayee, she knows she will not achieve anything. That's why she is targeting Sonia," explains an AICC functionary. Though the Congress and AIADMK have been electoral allies for long periods under various leaders, Jayalalithaa and Sonia do not enjoy a good rapport. Sonia first incurred Jayalalithaa's wrath when, after the fall of the Vajpayee government in April 1999, she rejected the AIADMK supremo's plea for a coalition government, insisting that she would only head a single-party Congress government. The recent Congress-TMC merger may be another reason for Jayalalithaa's pique. The merger has lent muscle to the Congress with its strength in the Assembly rising from seven to 27. With a 20 per cent vote share, the party is again poised to play a crucial role in the state.

However, Jayalalithaa's overwhelming concern is not the small gains that the Congress has made. She wants to be the king or at least a kingmaker in the next elections-the N. Chandrababu Naidu of a future dispensation. Her goal is achievable. With the DMK in disarray, the AIADMK is looking to bag at least 32 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu. Which is why she is speaking about the need to forge a third alternative to the Congress and the BJP.

This is not the first time that the AIADMK chief has tried to occupy centrestage in national politics. After withdrawing support to the Vajpayee government in 1999, she had camped for a fortnight in the capital with her famed 45 suitcases and had attempted to prop up an alternative government. This time round she is believed to be relying on more than political common sense; sources say she went on the anti-Sonia offensive on advice from her astrologer.

The Congress leaders, however, see a limited design in Jayalalithaa's action. They feel that by focusing on Sonia's Italian origin yet again, she is merely trying to divide the Opposition. Barring the communists, all opposition parties have reservations about accepting Sonia's leadership. Jayalalithaa's immediate goal now is to exploit this uneasiness and scuttle opposition unity in Gujarat. "It is Jayalalithaa's grand strategy to defeat the Congress in Gujarat. She has raked up Sonia's citizenship issue to help the BJP fortify its hardline Hindutva," says AICC General Secretary Vayalar Ravi. It is no coincidence that one of Jayalalithaa's first halts in her planned nationwide campaign to prevent Sonia from becoming prime minister, is going to be Gujarat. There is much at stake for both the BJP and the Congress in that state and another defeat for the BJP may well mean the beginning of the end of the party regime at the Centre.

Whatever the outcome in Gujarat, the vitriol pouring out of Fort St George has come at an inopportune time for Sonia. Just when she had widened her political acceptance, Jayalalithaa's outburst has caused her Italian origins to haunt her again. Though Soni maintains the issue is being resurrected by "desperate, dejected people", party leaders admit it will haunt Sonia till she becomes prime minister.

In an era of coalition politics, the prime ministerial sweepstakes is a numbers game. If Sonia's chances of making it to the top job depend on her ability to increase her acceptability among national political parties, so does Jayalalithaa's. No soothsayer can predict which of the two will have the numerical advantage.