Sonia Gandhi lambasts BJP for maligning her

Rae Bareli, Mar 28: Even as she came down heavily on the BJP, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today made it clear to her opponents that she would not be cowed down by their relentless campaign against her and continue to serve the people.

Without naming the BJP, she said "Their 'Enemy No. 1' is Sonia Gandhi. Every stone, every arrow and every bullet that they fire is aimed at hitting me." Addressing a massive rally here, she said she had entered politics to serve the masses. "I knew that my path will be full of thorns but I can assure you that I am not going to lose and retract my steps." This was Ms Gandhi's first visit to her Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency after she resigned her Parliamentary seat as well as the post of Chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC) in the wake of the controversy that she was holding an office of profit.

Recalling what compelled her to resign from the Lok Sabha, the Congress President said an atmosphere had been created by the Opposition parties that the government was circumventing rules and regulations only to enable her to hold a position.

" I consulted Rahul and Priyanka (her son and daughter) and we decided that I must resign. The people of Rae Bareli are members of my family and I want to assure you that I will again contest from here," she said amid thunderous applause.

Ms Gandhi said now that she had resigned from the Lok Sabha, the Opposition parties were asking the government to amend the law so that their party leaders could hold positions while continuing as Parliamentarians or legislators. Invoking the names of the members of Gandhi-Nehru family, she said right from Pandit Motilal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi each one of them served the nation and sacrified their lives for it. Despite their services, they had to bear the Opposition's onslaught regularly.

Congress, she was not merely a political party. It was a way of life, a movement for the people. She said she would continue to uphold the principles for which the members of the Nehru-Gandhi family always stood. "I will continue to fight against injustice, against subjugation," she added.

UNI

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