NDA stance reckless: Sonia

Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for obstructing Parliament, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said they were attempting to subvert the "overwhelming" mandate of the people.

In a statement that was calculated to make the NDA see red, Gandhi, in her first address to the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) after the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power, said: "The desperation of our political opponents is not surprising, their frustration not unexpected. Blinded by arrogance of power, isolated from people, they did not expect to lose. They lost. More than that, they lost decisively. They and their cheer leaders are busy trying to subvert the overwhelming mandate of our people."

Gandhi said the NDA had no substantive issues with which to criticise the ruling combine. While the country wanted Parliament to function, they were "behaving in a most irresponsible way".

The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh.

Normally, it is the Prime Minister, as leader of the CPP who addresses the meeting, not the president of the party. But Singh sat quietly through Gandhi's speech.

Gandhi, who is also the chairperson of the UPA, said the Congress had also been in the Opposition for six years but it was a constructive Opposition, "always conscious of our duties and responsibilities to the people."

"We also opposed. We also agitated but in a sober, dignified manner. But the BJP, the NDA is totally different," she said.

She said though the UPA government was just over 40 days old, the Prime Minister's "special idea of making government a more effective instrument of economic change and social transformation has been well-received across the country".

A financial relief package for farmers had been announced, which will ease the burden of debt on them, she said and asked party MPs to associate themselves closely with the implementation of this package both at the state and the district levels.

Gandhi said steps were being taken to rectify the communalisation in educational system and other institutions and nuclear confidence-building measures with Pakistan were being put in place.

The recently-held meeting of the chief ministers discussed how to improve the effectiveness of rural development schemes, particularly through panchayati raj.

Gandhi spoke about the common minimum programme (CMP) of the UPA government which, she said, was finalised in a remarkably short period of time demonstrating "our collective sense of purpose and determination".

"It is a document that reflects the verdict of 2004 Lok Sabha polls, a verdict which saw a decisive rejection of anti-poor economic policies and divisive social ideologies of the BJP and the NDA," Gandhi said adding it was a detailed statement of priorities, plans, policies and programmes of the government.

She asked party MPs to interact and work closely with colleagues in the government to ensure that the CMP was put into practice in letter and spirit.

On the coming Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand, Gandhi said the party organisation should gear itself to consolidate the success achieved in the Lok Sabha polls.

"I am also paying special attention to strengthening our party in states where our performance in the recent elections was disappointing," she said.

Gandhi said she had requested senior party leaders including Pranab Mukherjee, Shivraj Patil, PM Sayeed and Suresh Pachori to organise training and orientation programmes both on procedural and substantive issues for new party MPs.

This means younger MPs will be put through the mill rather than being accommodated in the organisation in the revamp that could take place around July 10.