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Sonia takes a jibe at Modi, Kejriwal

Last Updated 01 February 2015, 19:22 IST

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), ridiculing “pracharak” Narendra Modi and “dharna-baaz” Arvind Kejriwal. 

She urged voters to “save Delhi” from those making “empty promises”.Addressing her only election rally before the Assembly elections, Gandhi credited former chief minister Sheila Dikshit for the facelift Delhi underwent during her 15-year tenure.

“Those we supported could not govern even for two months. They ran away from responsibility. Then, there was the Modi government, which instead of calling elections kept ruling the capital through President’s Rule,” she said at a rally in the slum cluster of Meethapur on the fringes of south Delhi.

Taking a swipe at both Modi and Kejriwal, Gandhi said: “While one party has a pracharak who only indulges in 'prachar’ (campaigning), another has a dharne-baaz (agitator) who is busy organising protests.

“The people of Delhi should beware of such people. Delhi needs good governance, not empty promises,” she said, bringing up the various initiatives the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had launched for the poor.

Gandhi accused the Modi government of “weakening” the schemes the UPA had launched, including the food security and land acquisition laws, and doing nothing to check corruption despite the “golden promises” made before the Lok Sabha polls.

She contended that the capital had not witnessed any communal conflagration during the Congress rule, but there have been such incidents since the Modi government came to power.

“There are some forces that came to power and we saw incidents in Trilokpuri and Dilshad Garden. We have to defeat such forces,” she said referring to the communal riots in Trilokpuri and the desecration of a church in Dilshad Garden. 

The Congress does not fancy its chances in the February 7 Delhi elections. Speaking privately, several leaders admit that a hung Assembly would keep the Congress relevant in the national capital's polity.

Desperate attempts

The Congress is making desperate attempts to woo its traditional support base, consisting of slum-dwellers, minorities and Dalits, who had voted en-masse to the AAP in the 2013 Assembly elections.

The party has fielded its lead campaigners—Sonia and Rahul Gandhi—to target this voter base. While the Congress chief’s Sunday rally was in an area dominated by slum clusters, Rahul’s January 29 public meeting was in Seelampur, an area dominated by a minority community. 

Rahul had also participated in a roadshow in Govindpuri, an area where the Congress had successfully implemented a slum redevelopment project. He will participate in another roadshow on Tuesday in the Chandni Chowk area of Old Delhi.

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(Published 01 February 2015, 19:04 IST)

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