New Delhi: Ready to fight her sixth Lok Sabha election, 72-year-old Sonia Gandhi seems to have given a clear political message that she is far from her long-speculated retirement and her party leaders feel she would be the all-important "binding force" when they need to join forces with other parties to take on BJP.

Her re-nomination as Congress candidate from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh has also scotched rumours about she making way for daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in this family bastion and the leaders say it would also ensure that the family's youngest entrant into the political scene can dedicate her energy on poll campaign across the state and in other places rather than limiting it to just one seat.