Sonia Gandhi quits Indian parliament

NEW DELHI --Sonia Gandhi, the leader of India's governing coalition, stepped down Thursday as a member of Parliament amid feuding with opposition parties over whether she violated a once-obscure election law by holding another government job.

Despite her resignation, Gandhi still wields considerable political clout. Much of her influence is informal, and she is seen by many Indians as the real power behind Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. She said she would run again for the same parliamentary seat in the future.

The move by the Italian-born Gandhi, the widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, appeared aimed at defusing opposition claims that she is not qualified to sit in Parliament because she also chairs a number of government organizations.

A 1959 law in India -- which many say is outdated -- bars national lawmakers from holding other paying jobs in the government unless Parliament makes specific exemptions. Singh said he would consult with political parties on how to amend the law.

Gandhi was first elected to Parliament in 1999. After her party won elections in 2004, she refused to take the post of prime minister, but did take over the ruling coalition. Until Thursday, she also headed the National Advisory Council, set up to oversee the government's development program. She does not, however, earn a salary from that job.

Nevertheless, opposition leaders pointed out that the government-appointed job of heading the National Advisory Council is an "office of profit" under the 1959 law and cannot be headed by a lawmaker.

"I have said this earlier too, that I have not joined politics for selfish reasons but to serve the Indian society and defend secular values," Gandhi told reporters outside her New Delhi home. "That is why, in keeping with the ideals of public life and politics and my own self respect, I am resigning from (Parliament)."

She also resigned as head of the National Advisory Council. But Gandhi insisted she was not leaving politics.

"I will definitely contest (elections), and from Rae Bareli," she said, referring to the rural constituency that her family has long represented.

The attacks on Gandhi came after a Congress Party worker filed a complaint with the federal election commission, saying Jaya Bachchan -- a member of Parliament who is the wife of India's most famous movie star and a representative of a party long at odds with the Gandhi family -- had broken the 1959 law by also being a member of a state film development board.

Bachchan was forced to resign earlier this week. She and her husband were once close friends of Sonia and Rajiv Gandhi before a public falling out years ago.

Congress politicians and analysts said Gandhi's action would quell opposition criticism ahead of elections in four major Indian states in April and May.

Pran Chopra, a New Delhi-based political analyst, compared Thursday's announcement to Gandhi's decision in 2004 to refuse the prime minister's job, which sent her popularity soaring as many people saw it as a rare act of renunciation in Indian politics.

As the news about Gandhi's resignation spread Thursday, thousands of Congress Party workers and supporters assembled outside her home, demanding she reverse her decision. They held Gandhi's portraits, squatted on the road and shouted slogans against the Hindu nationalist opposition leaders.

Authorities deployed hundreds of policemen to watch the crowd.