NEW DELHI, May 17: Agitated over Congress President Sitaram Kesri's `blatant manipulations' during organisational elections for the Pradesh and All India Congress Committee members (PCC and AICC), a number of senior party leaders from Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have sought the intervention of Sonia Gandhi.

The leaders who have called on Sonia Gandhi in this connection during the last four days include Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and former union minister V C Shukla , West Bengal Youth Congress chief Mamta Bannerjee, former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and Andhra Pradesh Congress leader Hanumantha Rao.

So far, Sonia has not given them any commitment. However, there are unmistakable indications that she is slowly and steadily, if surreptitiously, emerging as the last court of appeal in the Congress set-up even without any authority.

Militant opposition from dissidents at the state level (in Delhi, organisational elections had to be ``rescheduled'' following violent clashes between supporters of Kesri-loyalist R K Dhawan and his rivals) is another sign that even if Sonia allowed Kesri to retain the party's top post, he would be a president with limited authority.

In Bihar, when Kesri's appointee Pradesh Returning Officer (PRO) Surinder Shingla tried to be more loyal than the king and returned from Patna with a PCC resolution giving carte blanch to Kesri, Jagannath Mishra protested and rushed to Sonia Gandhi. West Bengal's firebrand MP Mamata Banerjee was so agitated over the way things were being manipulated in her state that she announced boycott of organisational elections on Thursday. She changed her mind after a 30-minute meeting with Ms Gandhi.

Digvijay Singh and V C Shukla have also complained to Sonia that they did not expect free and fair elections under the present dispensation in Madhya Pradesh. They have accused Kesri of trying to capture the organisation with the help of Arjun Singh, Madhavrao Scindia and S C Shukla.

According to a senior MP Congress leader, V C Shukla was so agitated at a meeting of state Congress leaders convened by Kesri at his residence yesterday that he walked out within ten minutes in a huff saying ``I have to keep an appointment with madame (read Sonia Gandhi)''.

In the other states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, the Kesri camp is confronted with another set of problems and may have to lean on Sonia Gandhi.

In Uttar Pradesh, UPCC chief Jitendra Prasad has managed to control the election process, capitalising on Kesri's fear that if he backed Prasad's rival N D Tiwari he might be inviting bigger trouble.

Maharashtra strongman Sharad Pawar had so far kept quiet and let his new-found friend A R Antuley do the sharpshooting against Kesri. He is, however, becoming increasingly distrustful of Kesri.According to a Pawar supporter, even if Pawar agrees to pave way for Kesri, he would like to do so at Sonia's bidding.

He sees Sharad Pawar's latest pro-Sonia utterances indicative of a desire to be closer to the emerging power centre at 10 Janpath.