Congress to work with all to defeat BJP in 2019, says Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: Describing her son and Congress president Rahul Gandhi as her “boss”, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi attacked the BJP and the Narendra Modi government on Thursday, and signalled the party’s move to firm up a grand alliance for the 2019 general election.

Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party for the first time since demitting office as party chief, Mrs Gandhi said the Congress “will work with like-minded political parties to ensure the BJP’s defeat in the next general election”. She added: “We have a new Congress president and on your behalf and my own I wish him all the best. He is now my boss too. Let there be no doubt about that.”

She accused the Modi government of “flaring communal passions and orchestrating violence against minorities” across India, including in election-bound Karnat-aka. Describing the Congress’ decimation in 2014 as an aberration, she said: “Increasingly, the people of our country, people belonging to all sections of society... are getting disillusioned with the present regime. It is for us to channel this discontent into support.” 

The Gujarat polls and the Rajasthan byelections, she said, showed the win-ds of change. Karnataka, where polls are due later this year, will “underline the Congress’ resurgence”, she added.

“It has been almost four years since this government came to power. This has been a period in which institutions have come under systematic assault — Parliament itself, the judiciary, med-ia and civil society. Inves-tigative agencies have been let loose against political opponents,” she
said. Accusing the BJP of polarising the country Mrs Gandhi added: “Violence against minorities, dalits is not sporadic, but orchestrated to polarise society for narrow political gains.”

The Congress was targeting the NDA government for rising unemployment, Mrs Gandhi said, and added: “Unemployment is staring at our youth. New jobs are not only not being created, but existing jobs themselves are being lost. Employment can’t happen without new investments and the fact is that there has been a marked decline in the rate of investments over the past four years.” She even attacked the recent Union Budget, calling in “full of sleight of hand and jumlas”.

Mrs Gandhi also attacked the government on its foreign policy, and said: “Personalised diplomacy and public bearhugs are all very well, but there is no substitute for institutionalised processes, for hard work and preparation, and for continuity in our national policies.”