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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Sonia Gandhi takes on Modi, Kejriwal as campaigning reaches fever pitch
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Sonia Gandhi takes on Modi, Kejriwal as campaigning reaches fever pitch

Congress president talks up party record in office, questions ability of either BJP or AAP to deliver on development

A file photo of Congress party president Sonia Gandhi. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/MintPremium
A file photo of Congress party president Sonia Gandhi. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

New Delhi: The Congress party on Sunday fielded its president, Sonia Gandhi, to try and salvage some political ground a week to the Delhi assembly polls.

Most opinion polls place Congress a distant third behind the two principal rivals, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Dwelling on the three-term record of the Congress government in Delhi, Gandhi argued it had taken steps in every sector. “Under the leadership of (chief minister) Sheila (Dikshit), Congress made Delhi a better city. We gave people the comfort of metro, made the city pollution-free through CNG (compressed natural gas), and provided piped water. There have been many steps taken to better the slums. Eight hundred plus colonies were regularized. Steps have been taken in every sector," Gandhi said.

The Congress formed the government in Delhi under Dikshit for 15 years till December 2013, when AAP came to power with Congress support.

“Congress party had taken the step of forming a government by giving support, but the party we gave support to didn’t last 50 days. They quit responsibility and ran away. Then BJP came and kept delaying elections, leaving Delhi to its ways," Gandhi said in the border constituency of Badarpur.

She added, “In the last year, crime has increased, specially against women. The high prices of electricity, water and corruption has caused trouble in people’s lives. The people responsible for this are the ones who ran away, and the ones who are in the centre forgot about Delhi."

This was the first rally that the Congress chief has addressed since elections were announced in January. Vice-president Rahul Gandhi last week held a road show and a rally in the capital.

Elections for Delhi’s 70 assembly constituencies will be held on 7 February and votes will be counted on 10 February.

Attacking the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government, Gandhi said, “What happened to all the promises made by BJP before election? Where is the black money that was supposed to be given to people? Where is increased employment and curbed inflation? Under former prime minister Manmohan Singh, United Progressive Alliance took steps to develop India."

Referring to the recent ordinance route taken by the government to amend the Land Acquisition Act, Gandhi said that the UPA government had refrained from taking such steps because it did not want farmers’ land to be taken away without their permission. “Modi government opened this through the route of ordinance," she said.

In her address, Gandhi said one party has a pracharak (preacher) and the other has dharnebaaz (activist). Delhi needs development, she said, adding a Congress government can make Delhi free of people who made false promises.

The Delhi assembly has been in suspended animation since the AAP government resigned in February 2014 after a short stint in power.

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Published: 01 Feb 2015, 06:07 PM IST
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