Mumbai, Sep. 4 (IANS): The Shiv Sena Saturday raised the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin once again and wondered if there was a "man" in the Congress party, a day after Gandhi was re-elected party chief for a record fourth successive term.

In a sharp editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamna, Bal Thackeray's party hit out at Sonia Gandhi and questioned whether there was any "man" left in the Congress party who could pose a challenge to the Gandhi family.

"Once it was said that (the late prime minister) Indira Gandhi was the only 'man' in her cabinet. In Sonia Gandhi's era, we have to ask if there is a single 'man' left in the Congress? If so, they would not have so meekly surrendered the party's pride before a foreigner woman," the editorial said.

The Saama pointed out that this is the same Congress which was founded by a foreigner A. O. Hume, but who never became the party chief since he was of foreign origin.

Instead, Hume chose to make Indian stalwarts like Surendranath Banerjee or Dadabhai Nauroji as party heads, the edit said.

In 1998, when leaders like Sharad Pawar, Makhan Lal Fotedar and Bhajan Lal forcibly evicted the then Congress chief Sitaram Kesri and made Rajiv Gandhi's widow Sonia as party chief, they believed that they could put a gun to her head and do as they wished.

But these very leaders were compelled to leave the party questioning Sonia Maino Gandhi's foreign origins, and susbsequently Manmohan Singh was made the prime minister, the edit noted.

Now, Sonia Gandhi's prime aim in life is to ensure that her son Rahul becomes the prime minister of India - but nobody dares to give him a challenge, it said.

A party in which once even Mahatma Gandhi's decisions were questioned and challenged, the new trend is the entire party bends on its knees and accepts Sonia Gandhi's decisions, the edit said.