An emergency meeting of the Congress Working Committee, however, resolutely turned down her offer saying it had full faith in her leadership.

Briefing newspersons, CWC member Pranab Mukherjee said Sonia had tendered her resignation letter, dated May 15, at the CWC which was unanimously rejected.

Sonia left her resignation letter at the CWC meeting before leaving the venue. She left within half an hour of the meeting with a plea that as it was discussing the issue of her leadership, she would not like to participate in it.

The meeting, which continued for some more time, ended with a five-member delegation including Arjun Singh, Ahmed Patel and Oscar Fernandes rushing to Sonia's house in an apparent bid to persuade her not to press the resignation.

Mukherjee said all the CWC members would be approaching her withthe CWC resolution. "There is no merit in her proposal," the resolution said.

None of the three rebels attended the meeting saying it was not convenient to them. While Pawar was busy meeting his supporters in Mumbai, Sangma was in US on a private trip. Anwar said he would not like to attend the meeting in the absence of his other two colleagues.

Most Congress leaders, including CWC members, AICC secretaries, pradesh congress committee (PCC) chiefs and frontal organisations rallied behind the party president on Monday as rebel leader Pawar said he was neither quitting the Congress nor floating another party.On the second day of the rebellion by the three partymen, questioning Sonia's credentials to become the party's prime ministerial candidate on account of her foreign origin, the Congress party went in for a tailspin with all-round consternation over its poll prospects.

In what looked like an orchestrated move, most senior Congress leaders made a beeline at 10, Janpath to express their support. Amongthose who called on her earlier in the day included Sitaram Kesri, Manmohan Singh, Rajesh Pilot, Ahmed Patel, Pranab Mukherjee, AK Antony, Arjun Singh, Madhavrao Scindia, R K Dhawan, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Balram Jakhar, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, among others.

Party chief ministers like Digvijay Singh (Madhya Pradesh) and Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan) sent in their letters of support to Sonia, as did the PCC chiefs and leaders of the party's frontal organisations.

On their part, AICC secretaries issued a joint statement attacking the three CWC members for questioning Sonia's credentials as the party's prime ministerial candidate.

Maitaining that it was a deliberate design to bring down the prestige of the party, the secretaries said the "racist arguments, which contravene the broad, tolerant and large-hearted traditions of the country are not acceptable to us." They were obviously referring to the rebels' demand that Sonia could not become prime minister because of her Italian origin.

Stating thatthe party will move full steam ahead to victory under the dynamic leadership of its "only leader", the secretaries regretted that just as the party was gearing itself to face the Lok sabha elections, the three members raked up an unncecessary issue.

Senior party leaders P Shiv shankar and Bhajan Lal said the action of the three CWC members was condemnable as it "plays into the hands of BJP and their cohorts." Senior party leader K Karunakaran said Sonia was the undisputed Congress leader and nobody could question her leadership. "Sonia alone will lead the party in the coming election and Congress is confident of forming the next government," he told reporters at Kochi.

While Mumbai regional Congress committee chief Murali Deora termed the action of Pawar and the other two leaders as a "great betrayal and an act of gross indiscipline," Gujarat Congress chief CD Patel said the three had played into BJP's hands.