Congress leaders describe Sonia as Sita, BJP says she had no choice

Ahmedabad, Mar 23: Shell-shocked over Congress President Sonia Gandhi's resignation from her Lok Sabha seat and as the National Advisory Council (NAC) chairperson, senior leaders of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) leaders today reposed full faith in her leadership.

However, BJP claimed it as a ''victory'' for the party which had raised the 'office of profit' issue. ''Congress was trying to shoot its opponents with this weapon but it has boomeranged. Ms Gandhi had no other choice but to resign,'' said Purushottom Rupala, spokesperson of the state BJP.

GPCC president Bharatsinh Solanki said that Sonia Gandhi upheld the high traditions of the Nehru-Gandhi family in maintaining unity, integrity and security of the nation above individual.

Mr Solanki said the entire GPCC executive committee, AICC and GPCC delegates have extended full support to Ms Gandhi and are awaiting her order to thwart any opposition gameplan. No person can now match her self-sacrifices and contributions to the people of the country.

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Arjun Modhvadia said with her resignation, the Congress president has exposed how selfish and power hungry the BJP leaders are. Despite several strictures from the Supreme Court and the National Human Rights Commission, Chief Minister Narendra Modi never thought of relinquishing his post.

''Mr Advani's resignation after the Jinnah remarks were only a dramatic stunt,'' he added.

In a joint statement issued here, several GPCC leaders today likened her to Sita, who had repeatedly agreeed to offer sacrifices to set the wrongs right. They included former Union Minister Urmilaben Patel, former Deputy Chief Minister Narhari Amin, former State Ministers Hasmukh Patel and Arvind Sanghvi, besides Shaktisinh Gohil, Irshad Mirza, Madhusudan Mistry, Maulin Vaishnav and Jayantilal.

UNI