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George Iype in Bangalore
With the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government caught in a web of corruption charges in the wake of the Tehelka disclosures on defence deals, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said her party would declare its plan tomorrow to bring down the government.
Mounting a frontal attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in her presidential address at the All India Congress Committee plenary session in Bangalore, Sonia said the Vajpayee government had lost the moral authority to remain in power.
"We will make every sacrifice to ensure that the country is liberated from the corrupt and venal government of Prime Minister Vajpayee," the Congress president said and asserted that only the Congress could provide strong, corruption-free governance at the Centre.
She said the party's MPs would meet Monday morning in New Delhi to discuss a plan of action to dislodge the Vajpayee government and added that she had already discussed the proposed plan with pradesh Congress chiefs and party's legislators.
"The shameful exposure (of corruption in defence deals) has torn the mask of self-righteousness from the ugly face of corruption and venality. What had long been whispered in the corridors of power is now being telecast to the world," she said.
"For a fistful of riches, the men and women who rule in the name of high principle sold the honour of the seats they occupy. There can be no forgiveness. There can be no mercy. The BJP-led coalition government has lost the moral right to govern," Sonia declared.
Stating that "a fractured, divided India under the BJP can not prosper," she said the Congress is the only party that stands for the people and the development of the country.
"Our mission is to rescue India's culture and secularism from the BJP rule," she asserted.
Attacking the BJP-led government on a variety of areas, including agriculture, economic reforms, foreign policy and the Kashmir peace initiative, the Congress president said the BJP's ideological assault is destroying the country's public sector.
"Prices of agricultural products have collapsed. The Vajpayee government is content to blame the World Trade Organisation for the ills of the agricultural sector. The prosperity that the Congress brought to the country through the 70s and 80s has been destroyed by the BJP regime," she alleged.
Accusing the RSS-BJP combine of saffronising educational institutions, the Congress president said it is tragic that the BJP government has failed to distance itself from the Ayodhya issue. "While the Sangh Parivar is threatening to take the law into its hands, the prime minister is looking the other way," she said.
Describing Kashmir as a profound symbol of Indian secularism, the Congress president said the Vajpayee government's ceasefire initiative had failed to produce the desired results.
"Different elements of the government are at odds with each other over whom to deal with, how to deal with and in what direction the dialogue must move. The ceasefire initiative is not an end in itself," she said.
Sonia asked the party workers to not be complacent. "This is a time for a new resolve, a time when we take a pledge to restore to the Congress its old glory and primacy in our national political firmament," she said.
Tehelka Tapes: The Complete Coverage
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