Sonia Gandhi has decided she will not become the next prime minister of India.

"The post has not been my prime aim," Gandhi told stunned supporters on Tuesday.

"I was always certain that if ever I found myself in the position I am in today, I would follow my inner voice. I humbly decline the post," she said.

Sonia Gandhi (AP photo)
Sonia Gandhi (AP photo)

Gandhi's Congress party won an upset election victory last Thursday, defeating the governing Bharatiya Janata party and causing Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to resign.

Congress didn't win a majority, but secured the conditional support of two communist parties to form a coalition government.

Earlier Tuesday, Gandhi left a meeting with Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam without being named prime minister.

Traditionally in India, when the leader of the party with the most electoral votes is invited to the presidential palace, he or she emerges with the title of prime minister.

The 57-year-old Gandhi has asked supporters to accept her decision. She said she would not reconsider.

Earlier in the day hundreds of supporters waved the Congress party flag and pleaded with Gandhi to stay. One man stood on top of a jeep and put a loaded gun to his head. He threated to kill himself if she did not become prime minister.

Somnath Chatterjee, a Gandhi ally and member of the Congress Party of India-Marxist said it's rumoured Ghandi's children were against her taking the job.