Sonia pans BJP, says Left irrelevant

Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said victory for Congress in the Lok Sabha polls was vital to safeguard the unity and secularism of the country and cautioned the people against giving in to the "untested promises and lies" of the the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Launching the United Democratic Front's campaign in Kerala at a state-level Congress convention in Kochi, the Congress President also attacked the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for clinging to an 'irrelevant' ideology and pursuing violent means to secure its goals.

Urging party workers to gear up for a grim electoral battle shedding internal rivalries, Gandhi said her party stood for such cherished national ideals like secularism, unity in diversity and democratic polity, which were under threat. "The idea of India is under threat by those who don't just seek to rule but to change the very heart and soul of the nation," she said. While the Congress stood for unity, the "principal opposition" wanted to divide and separate one from another. "The choice is very clear. Whether to vote for peace or vote that promotes fear. We want India's unity and they want to divide by hatred," she said. Listing the achievements and progressive legislations brought in by the UPA rule, she said "we approach the people with confidence as we have many achievements to our credit." Criticising the repeated stalling of Parliament by the opposition, she said many legislations related to corruption were on the cards, but the Opposition was not allowing the government to pass those bills. On the issue of corruption, she said Congress always took action whenever complaints of graft came up."On every instance of corruption that have come to light, we have taken action. I want to know what action has been taken in corruption cases in the states ruled by BJP." Earlier, launching a government-civil society initiative for safety and security of women in the state, Gandhi said she deeply regretted that the Women's Reservation bill could not be passed by Parliament for lack of consensus but her party would continue its efforts for passage of the legislation.