It was no backseat driving. Congress president Sonia Gandhi [Images] stumped party members by taking the last row in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The United Progressive Alliance chairperson, who enjoys Cabinet rank by virtue of being head of the National Advisory Council on the Common Minimum Programme of the ruling alliance, has been allotted the front row seat next to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] and leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee.

Gandhi continued to occupy a seat on the last row despite being urged by Finance Minister P Chidambaram and others to move to the front.

Incidentally, her son and Congress Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi [Images], seated three rows ahead of her, spoke for the first time in the House on Monday.