However, in Nagpur and around -- an area that constitutes the RSS heartland the foreigner issue does not count for much. If for the city voter, it's Kargil that matters now, the rural voter is expected to be swayed by the Congress's desh ki bahu card. Factors like the Congress president's lack of political experience as was evident in her abortive bid to stake claim at the Centre over-dependence on a coterie of ``political misfits''and scanty knowledge of India do not matter much for this class of voter.

In fact, references and remarks regarding her foreign origin have been met with derision here. Thackeray's mimicking of Sonia so disgusted voters at a recent rally in this area that many, especially women, left the meeting. His references regarding her at a pre-poll rally in Katol near here last year had drawn a legal suit from indignant Congress supporters.

One such supporter is Shalikram Raut, owner of a cycle-repair shop near the Accountant General's office in Nagpur, who lives in the Phutala slums off Amravati road. ``Sonia will come to power whatever her opponents may say or do,'' he says. He has reached this conclusion after discussions with clients coming to his shop. ``Sonia's political advisors,'' Raut explains, ``will take care of her shortcomings.''

A social activist from the Muslim-dominated Momipura locality, Abdul Hamid Karnal, agrees with him. ``The nation only stands to gain from Sonia's leadership,'' he says,brushing aside doubts in this regard. ``It's like learning a bicycle,'' according to him. ``Once you take charge of the seat and handle, you automatically tend to learn to save yourself as well as others on the road. Sonia too will learn to lead.''

Anuprita Gokhale, a housewife, notes that traditional Congress voters will continue to cast their vote in favour of the party ``no matter the extent of heat generated by its opponents over Sonia's origins''. At the same time, she admits that the Congress president stands little chance of upstaging the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance.

Gokhale has an interesting explanation for this. The chances of Sonia heading a government seemed more realistic when the Vajpayee-led Government fell by a solitary vote in April this year, she says, but the same cannot be said now as Sonia had ``exhausted'' whatever charisma she had over the electorate during the last general election.

But for most voters, the impending general election is a straightcontest between Sonia's charisma and Vajpayee's persona. The handling of the Kargil crisis still matters, as do price rise and corruption, but Sonia's foreign origin is almost nowhere in the picture.

Observes Mohan D. Kolaskar, an officer with a nationalised bank: ``Sonia's status as a foreigner may be an issue in urban areas but not in the rural parts which constitute a majority of the electorate.'' Had the case been otherwise, he adds, Sonia wouldn't have led her party to victory in last year's Assembly polls in New Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

There are, of course, those who differ. Like Shantiprakash Dave, owner of a canteen at the high court here. ``Why should the Indian electorate choose a woman of foreign origin with no political experience and gross inability to interact with common people? What is the pressing need?'' he asks. According to Dave, the question is not who would form government at the Centre but the impression that is conveyed by projecting Sonia as the prime ministerialcandidate -- that the people of Indian origin were not capable enough. The Congress, he says, has no right to foist upon the people a person who does not enjoy mass appeal.

Concurs leading homeopath Dr Mohan Panchbhai. ``A foreigner should not rule India,'' he feels, adding that the situation would have been different had Sonia taken Indian nationality immediately after her wedding and joined active politics. ``The events leading to her becoming the Congress chief and the abortive bid for power at the Centre only proved that Sonia was an opportunist,'' Panchbhai insists.

M.D. Kanitkar, a retired Ordnance Factory employee, refers to the revolt within the Congress itself on the issue. ``Sonia's status as a foreigner was never emphasised in a more better way as by the rebellion by the Sharad Pawar-led troika that culminated in the break-up of the party,'' he says.

Kanitkar also notes that the Congress had pitched for late polls with a view to defeat the BJP-led alliance but had come up against Kargil.Vajpayee has emerged stronger than ever before and it would be difficult for Sonia to dislodge him whatever ``tricks she may have up her sleeve'', he adds.

A financial consultant, Rajendra C. Vaidya, also sees little chance of Sonia overcoming the ``hurdle'' of her origin to form a government at the Centre. Even at the grass-root level where her party expects to play up the dynasty card, he adds, people are unable to see in Sonia the plus points of her mother-in-law and former prime minister, Indira Gandhi.

But the BJP will have to do more than harp on Sonia's foreign origin to translate this disappointment into votes. The Vidarbha region, especially Nagpur, may be RSS territory but it's the Congress which has generally won from here; the only exception being 1996, when the BJP-Sena had got nine of the 11 Lok Sabha seats. Between now and polling day, the BJP has to come up with something besides gori chamdi to save its own skin.