Sonia Gandhi is holding a portrait of husband Rajiv Gandhi in photo shared by Priyanka Gandhi.
Hours after Sonia Gandhi handed over charge as Congress chief to Mallikarjun Kharge, her daughter and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shared an Instagram post with the message: "So proud of you Ma, no matter what the world says or thinks, I know, you did it all for love."
It shows Sonia Gandhi, 75, holding up a portrait of her husband, former PM Rajiv Gandhi, at the chiefship handover function, where Mallikarjun Kharge, 80, took over.
The Gandhis had decided not to contest the party election apparently to blunt the nepotism charge levelled by the BJP and others. This meant Mr Kharge is the first non-Gandhi chief in 24 years.
Sonia Gandhi remained in the background when Rajiv Gandhi was PM, and was later reluctant to take up the party job after he was assassinated in 1991. She eventually took over the chiefship in 1998 as party leaders saw in her a binding force that could keep it together against a rising BJP.
At the handover today, Mr Kharge, whom the Gandhis apparently backed in the contest against former minister Shashi Tharoor, 66, was effusive in praise, calling her an “icon of sacrifice” and a "guiding light".
She said she felt relieved. I did my duty to the best of my ability... A weight is off my shoulders."
"This was a big responsibility. The responsibility is now on Mallikarjun Kharge," she said.
She remained president by consensus for 19 years consecutively, except one election in 2000 that she won by a landslide, and led the party to Lok Sabha wins in 2004 and 2009. Yet, protests over her -- a woman of Italian Christian origin -- possibly becoming PM meant she made way for Manmohan Singh, who served as PM for the 10 years.
After the 2014 loss to BJP, she remained the boss until 2017, when she handed the baton over to son Rahul Gandhi. He quit after the 2019 Lok Sabha election loss, and Sonia Gandhi returned as interim chief, which means she served 21 years in the party's top post.
Priyanka Gandhi shared another post, on Twitter, with photos of her mother and brother with Mr Kharge as the party's poll panel chief, Madhusudan Mistry, handed him the victory certificate.
"Participated in the takeover ceremony of Shri Mallikarjun Kharge ji, and took a pledge to strengthen the organisation and fight for the country. Under his experienced leadership, a strong path will be laid out for unity and struggle," Priyanka Gandhi wrote with it, in Hindi.