Congress chooses Sonia Gandhi as PM

India's triumphant Congress Party has chosen Italian-born Sonia Gandhi to be India's next prime minister, as communist parties debate whether to join her new government.

Newly elected Congress lawmakers banged their tables in the timber-panelled central hall of parliament, as the unanimous decision was announced two days after Gandhi's shock election win over the ruling Hindu nationalists.

"I feel deeply humbled, I feel greatly privileged," she said, standing under life-sized portraits of former prime ministers, including her assassinated husband Rajiv, mother-in-law Indira and Indira's father Jawaharlal Nehru.

"I thank the people of India from my heart. We have succeeded against all odds, we have prevailed despite all predictions of disaster. There is now a momentum generated by our revival, let us not squander it. We must utilise it as a catalyst for change."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/48759F4F-1B3B-4DEA-B39D-EECF8ABA8B7A.htm