Cong. leaders predict fall of NDA Govt.

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 9. A meeting organised by the APCC to mark the 54th birthday of Ms. Sonia Gandhi was converted into a platform by Congress leaders to heap accusations on the NDA Government at the Centre and the TDP Government in the State.

The APCC president, Mr.M. Satyanarayana Rao, who presided, said the NDA Government would collapse anytime due to serious differences among coalition partners. The Congress should be ready to take over.

Mr. Rao said the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee's latest comments on the Ayodhya dispute led to a crisis. His stand posed a threat to the national integrity. Religious fanatics, who were responsible for the killing of Mahatma Gandhi, were ruling the country, he charged.

The PCC chief said the NDA and TDP Governments failed in solving the problems faced by people. There was need to strengthen the hands of Ms. Sonia Gandhi at this juncture, he said.

The leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), Dr.Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, said Mr. Vajpayee had come out in his ``true colours '' and the BJP had shed its mask by aggressively projecting its own agenda. The interests of the minorities and the poor were not secure in the hands of the present Government. The BJP was pitting one community against the other.

Farmers were badly let down by the State and Central Governments. The Congress should wage a fight against both Governments.

The former Union Ministers, Mr.G. Venkataswamy and Mr.P.V. Rangaiah Naidu, former CWC members, Ms. M. Laxmi Devi, former PCC president, Mr.P. Narsa Reddy, the A.P. Youth president, Mr.P. Sudhakar Reddy, the State NSUI president, Mr.P. Prabhakar, others who spoke on the occasion, showered praise on Ms. Gandhi.

The City Congress Committee organised another meeting to felicitate Ms. Gandhi. The former PCC president, Mr.V. Hanumantha Rao, said Muslims drifted away from the Congress as a false campaign was spread that the party was responsible for the demolition of Babri Masjid. The former CLP leader, Mr.P. Janardhan Reddy, Mr.M. Kodanda Reddy, former MLA, Mr.S. Krupakar, city Congress chief, and others addressed the meeting.

The Congress activists performed special poojas and prayers at temples, mosques and churches and fruits were distributed to patients at some city hospitals.

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