BJP's fight against corruption just a show off: Sonia

Kick-starting the Congress poll campaign in Himachal Pradesh, she charged the saffron party with only pretending to fight corruption and rising prices but showing little effort on the ground.

"These people (BJP) are talking big about tackling corruption when they themselves are deep into it. Their fight against corruption is just a show off. Before raising a finger against corruption they should introspect," she said.

Gandhi said it was a matter of shame that corruption had afflicted the system of governance and added that only the Congress party had made attempts to tackle it head on by implementing the Right to Information law.

"Who brought the RTI Act? Did the BJP enact it? It was the UPA which brought the RTI Act to tackle corruption," she said.

Elections to the Himachal Pradesh assembly are scheduled to be held on November 4.

Gandhi sought to defend the recent hike in diesel prices contending that it was inevitable because of the increase in international crude prices.

The UPA chairperson, however, pointed out that Congress-ruled states had reduced VAT on diesel to cushion the impact of the diesel price hike, a move which was lacking in the BJP-ruled states.

She also accused the BJP government of not making any effort to take the benefits of Central schemes to the poor and needy in the state.

Addressing a rally here, Gandhi said Central funds to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore allocated to the state had lapsed last year as the BJP government did not make adequate efforts to implement various Central schemes in the state.

"There is a difference between the promises and actual work of the BJP," she said.