``We will have to cope with it if such a situation arises,'' she told a group of press persons travelling with her on board the Indian Airlines flight from Delhi to Hyderabad. Gandhi was on her way to Bellary where she kicked off her election campaign along with daughter Priyanka.

Ten days ago Sonia had asserted that the question of a coalition government did not arise, maintaining that the Congress would form a single-party government.

The Congress president also expressed her willingness to share power with the party's allies and other secular parties if the situation demanded it. ``We will have to rethink (our earlier stand),'' she said. She said she had been against coalition governments because they had not been able to deliver.

Sonia made light of the snubadministered to her by Jayalalitha at Villupuram last week where she and the AIDMK chief were to kick off a joint campaign in Tamil Nadu. ``I never take these things personally,'' Sonia said. She confirmed that Jayalalitha had spoken to her on the telephone and expressed regret for her failure to turn up at the meeting.

The press persons travelling with Sonia to Bellary went up to her in the executive class of the aircraft where she sat next to Priyanka, and she chatted with them pleasantly, readily answering questions put to her. In front of her lay the speech she delivered later in her constituency, which she had been going over. It was written in Hindi, and the letters were typeset in bold 70 points. Certain letters like ``th'' (in the Hindi word uthayi), which required to be emphasised were underlined.

Sonia Gandhi has come a long way from the days of the tea meetings specially arranged for her to interact with the press when a diffident Congress president used to have nervous party leadershover around her, ready to prompt her. Today she was relaxed, and able to think on her feet.

She refused to commit herself to be projected as a prime ministerial candidate. When asked if she was willing and prepared to shoulder the responsibility, were it to come her way, she made it clear that she had already stated her position that the newly elected MPs would decide who would be the leader. But would she hesitate, if the party elected her? She thought for a few seconds and said, ``I am not prepared to go beyond what I have stated.''

She also refused to be provoked by the BJP's growing attacks against her foreign antecedents. Asked about the report in one of the papers today that a BJP leader had compared her to Monica Lewinsky, Sonia merely smiled and said she had not seen the report. ``I have always felt that the people of India will decide this issue,'' she said.

Questioned about Sharad Pawar's statement that he would be willing to support the Congress minus Sonia to keep the BJP at bay, she said,``That is not a sincere statement. He has worked out an adjustment with the BJP in many seats.''

Sonia admitted that it was a ``fact'' that the Congress had not been able to give women the number of seats she had wanted to. She acknowledged that there had been resistance in the party to the idea, though ``not all men opposed it''. While the Congress was committed to giving 33 per cent reservation to women in party positions and in legislatures, ``it is a process and will take time''.

Sonia was asked if in retrospect she felt she had made a mistake by not striking after the November 1998 elections when the Congress was riding high. ``I did not want to topple an elected government,'' she said. She admitted there was a lot of pressure on her to bring down the Vajpayee government at the time. Did she regret her decision? ``No,'' she replied.

She said the Congress had ``not brought down'' the Vajpayee Government in April. One of their partners withdrew support. ``It is not our zimmedari to keep thegovernment in power.''