"While one party has a pracharak who only does prachar (propaganda), the other just has a dharnebaaz, who is all the time busy organizing dharna (protest). What Delhi needs is development and unity, so don't fall prey to false promises," she said at a well-attended rally near Badarpur in southeast Delhi.
Sonia, addressing her first public meeting of this election, also talked about the communal violence in Trilokpuri and alleged it was being done to capture power in the state. "There are some forces which cause incidents like what happened in Trilokpuri. We have to defeat such forces," she said, stressing that Delhi needed development and communal harmony.
Citing examples of how Modi and Kejriwal had let down the poor, Sonia sought to remind the city of 15 years of development under the Sheila Dikshit government. The Congress campaign peak came at a rally in the heart of south Delhi's belt of unauthorized colonies and resettlements in Meethapur, near Badarpur.
It was a packed house of responsive supporters and the Congress leadership on the dais emphasized on the high turnout to say that the party was very much a factor to watch out for in this election.
Sonia warned the audience dominated by voters from low-income settlements and unauthorized colonies, to exercise their ballot with caution. She cited the 15-year "stable" Congress rule in the city to seek a chance for her party to govern again.
Former CM Sheila Dikshit was seen for the first time at a Congress campaign event, sharing stage with Gandhi. She was the face of the party in the December 2013 polls. Her presence at the rally was clearly aimed at putting up a show of solidarity. The seating line-up saw Dikshit placed on one side of Sonia Gandhi and Delhi campaign poll committee chairman Ajay Maken on the other side.
Maken and Dikshit have known to share strained relations over the last decade. In the same row, DPCC chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, who is charged with the party revamp, sat next to Dikshit to further the sense of bonhomie. However, the three-time CM was not even called upon to make a speech like other senior party functionaries, including former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Sonia began by reminding the public of how Kejirwal ran away from government after 49 days in office. "Congress gave AAP support to run a government hoping for stability but he (Kejriwal) could not handle the responsibility and left. I ask them (AAP), was it not their job to fight corruption and provide cheap water and electricity? Then came BJP (at the Centre) but instead of holding polls it delayed the elections. In the garb of President's rule they ran their own government," Gandhi said.
She said, in this intervening period, women's safety became a casualty and crime increased. "Corruption has also increased...," she added. She drew the attention of voters to BJP's rule of 1993-98 to remind them of "long power cuts, traffic congestion, poor transportation and fights over water".
Launching a scathing attack on Modi and his governance style, Sonia blamed the Centre of weakening pro-poor schemes initiated by the UPA on food security and the land acquisition law.
"The Modi government came with promises of bringing back black money and putting Rs 15 lakh in every person's account, but that has not happened. We brought RTI to empower people with a tool against corruption but the present government has kept the post of RTI commissioner vacant."
Next she moved to conjure up images of Delhi under Congress. "We gave you a better city with flyovers, Metro and freedom from pollution. We started the process of giving thousands of houses built for poor and are ready for allotment...these will be allotted in the future... We regularized 895 unauthorized colonies...," she claimed.
Gandhi also said that the UPA government had brought a strict anti-rape law after the Nirbhaya case, the street vendor's Bill, food security bill, RTI and sixth pay commission for government officials.
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