"Why are you limiting yourself to male candidates only? For all you know, it could be a woman," a senior Congressman told rediff.com on Tuesday night. Though senior leaders were reluctant to endorse this view on record, they did not rule out the possibility of a lady President.

Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, a member of the Rajya Sabha, was mentioned as a candidate initially, but eclipsed thereafter by the likes of Motilal Vora, Arjun Singh, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Dr Karan Singh, N D Tewari and Somnath Chatterjee.

With an assembly election in Gujarat scheduled for later this year, Sonia Gandhi may well opt for a woman candidate from the state. Someone like Ela Bhatt, the social activist who founded SEWA or Kumudben Joshi, a former Union minister and governor.