The Hindu : My charges not answered: Sonia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 24, 2003

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My charges not answered: Sonia

By Our New Delhi Bureau

Photo: Anu Pushkarna

The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, waving to the gathering after inaugurating the `Rajiv Gandhi Stadium' at Bawana in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI AUG. 23. The debate over the no-confidence motion is over, but the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are continuing with it outside Parliament. Today, the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, picked up where she had left off in the Lok Sabha, and the BJP served notice that it was going to keep the debate going.

Taking up her nine-point chargesheet against the Vajpayee Government, Ms. Gandhi accused the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, of having failed to come clean on the charges levelled by her.

"The Prime Minister has failed to reply to our charges. Instead, he is preaching us not to level allegations against his Government. As a responsible opposition party, we are here to highlight the failures of the ruling party and not to praise it. That is the job of the allies who are supporting the Vajpayee Government. We have provided cooperation to the Government on the issue of terrorism and national security," she said, while inaugurating a Rs. 9.5-crore multi-purpose sports stadium at Bawana in Outer Delhi, dedicated to the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

Lashing out at the BJP and its allies for blaming the Congress for their failures, Ms. Gandhi alleged that fundamentalist forces had received patronage from the Vajpayee Government. "It has become a habit with the BJP-led Government to blame the Congress for everything that goes wrong. It is because of the Congress that the country can face up to the world with its head held high."

Ms. Gandhi questioned the Centre's decision to "put on sale even profitable public sector undertakings".

"What is the hurry for such a move? There is something fishy in the whole process and this needs some deeper investigations," she said.

Ms. Gandhi said the public distribution system was a shambles and the food meant for the poor and the weaker sections was not reaching them.

Farmers were not getting a remunerative price and their produce was rotting in the open due to lack of storage facilities. The gains of the "Green revolution" brought under the leadership of the former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, were being squandered away.

"The only job this Government has done is to patronise the fascist forces that are out to wreck the social fabric of the country. The Vajpayee Government has failed to fulfil its promise of providing jobs to the youth who are now feeling let down by this Government," she alleged.

On its part, the BJP has decided to hold a "Vishwas Vijay Saptah" to highlight the "negative attitude and policies" of the Opposition, particularly the Congress.

During the week beginning August 24, it will take up issues raised during the motion of no-confidence "directly to the people and make them aware of the hollowness of the opposition parties", the party general secretary, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, announced.

The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, will lead the campaign with public meetings at Aurangabad (August 26) and at Jalgaon and Mumbai (August 29).

Eighteen other Union Ministers, besides the party president, M. Venkaiah Naidu, general secretaries, Pramod Mahajan and Mr. Naqvi, and the former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal, will address meetings/symposium in various parts of the country to highlight the achievements of the NDA Government and the political stability provided by it.

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