Netam and 10 supporters met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence this morning after which Sonia agreed to let them in again. Netam had quit the party around two years ago in protest at what he called highhandedness of Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and joined the BSP. He was almost at once appointed the state BSP president by Kanshi Ram but the move failed to translate into electoral gains for the party in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Following the debacle, Netam was restive and called on Sonia about six weeks ago.

Around the same time, he also quit the BSP and his return to the Congress was on the cards. Netam was presented before journalists by the Congress this evening where he said he returned because of his close links with the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Netam claimed he left theCongress because he was being "unnecessarily" dragged into the forest scam.