Around 20 supporters of Sonia Gandhi threatened Tuesday to kill themselves in protest if she declined to become the next prime minister.
 

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The group was part of a crowd of hundreds that assembled around Gandhi's tightly guarded home in New Delhi as news broke that she may not accept the country's top job.

"We love Sonia and we will die for Sonia. If Sonia doesn't come to power, then we will die. We will commit suicide," said Binod Kumar Sharma, a Congress party worker from the northeastern state of Assam.

His colleagues seconded his threat before burning a flag of the defeated Bharatiya Janata Party, which has called Gandhi unacceptable as prime minister because of her foreign roots.
 
Gandhi, 57, was born in Italy but became an Indian citizen after her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi, a former prime minister who was assassinated in 1991.

AFP