BJP using vendetta politics to divert attention, says Sonia Gandhi

At a time when several Congress leaders are quitting the party, interim president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday (September 12) attacked the BJP government at the Centre saying it was indulging in “unprecedented vendetta politics” to divert attention from the mounting losses on the economic front.

Gandhi was chairing a meeting of Congress leaders at the party headquarters in New Delhi to finalise plans for the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi.

According to sources quoted by news agency PTI, Gandhi said that the BJP government was testing the resilience of the Congress, which must now embark on an agitational agenda to reach out to the masses in exposing the BJP. “The Congress party must have an agitational agenda. Our resolve on resilience is being tested now,” sources quoted her as saying.

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Further, the interim Congress president noted that under the Narendra Modi government democracy was at peril and even alleged that the government was abusing its mandate in the “most dangerous” fashion.

Expressing concern over the economic slowdown prevailing in the country, Gandhi said that the BJP government was resorting to “unprecedented vendetta politics” to divert attention from the mounting losses on the economic front.

Sources further said that the Congress interim president accused the government of appropriating the legacy of freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and BR Ambedkar. The BJP is “misrepresenting” their true messages to further its “nefarious agenda”, she said.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who was present at the meeting, also highlighted the poor state of economy. “We are in the midst of dangerously protracted slowdown and the economy was going from bad to worse,” he was quoted as saying by the PTI sources. Singh said the government is not realising this and the worst could happen in the employment sector.

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Besides Gandhi and Singh, the meeting was attended by AICC general secretaries and in-charges of various states, state government chiefs and Congress Legislative Party leaders, among others. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Kamal Nath and Bhupesh Baghel, were not present in the meeting.

Among other senior leaders who attended the meeting were Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, AK Antony, KC Venugopal, Mallilkarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

(With inputs from agencies)