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Sonia accuses BJP allies of hypocrisy

Congress president Sonia Gandhi today accused the allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party of being "hypocritical" and challenged them to withdraw support to the Vajpayee government following the outrages committed by religious and fundamentalist forces in the country.

Ridiculing the BJP's allies for making "noises" when they issued statements following the outrages by religious groups, she said those supporting the present government despite such incidents were, in fact, helping strengthen these forces.

Inaugurating a day-long political convention of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee at Tirupati, she said, "We shall fight against those who raise a hand on another countrymen in the name of religion, whether the Congress is in the government or outside the government."

People in this country, she said, were basically secular but some forces refused to understand that and were trying to break the "powerful chain of brotherhood."

Statements issued by the BJP's allies denouncing the incidents were hypocritical, she said, adding, "If they mean what they say, why are they still supporting the (BJP-led) coalition government (at the Centre)?"

Without naming the religious groups, she accused them of undermining the country's development. Neither did they understand the strength of brotherhood nor that that no development was possible as long as the people were divided, she said.

Sonia also lambasted the Vajpayee government for its "failure" to contain fundamentalist forces. At the same time, she cautioned her party members against undermining the party's prospects in the coming assembly election in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Blaming the "inept" Vajpayee government for its failure to get the women's reservation bill passed in Parliament, she accused it of trying to deflect the issue by blaming the Congress. Several bills had been passed in Parliament due to her party's support, she said, adding that the women's reservation bill would also be passed very soon.

UNI

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