Countering the BJP charges of a soft policy towards terrorism, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in her first appearance for the Karnataka poll campaign at Tumkur and Bangalore on Wednesday, said her party did not need a certificate of patriotism from BJP leaders. “We cannot tolerate this,” she said. Campaigning in the same regions on Tuesday, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had charged the Congress with being incapable of combating terrorism. The Congress president during her twin rallies ahead of the elections to 89 first-phase Assembly constituencies on May 10 said “we want to ask BJP leaders as to who freed terrorists during the Kandahar hijack”. “The attack on Parliament, the Akshardham temple in Gujarat or in Kashmir, terror attacks happened under the BJP Government. We do not need a certificate on patriotism from such people,” Sonia said extending a campaign battle centered on terrorism. The Congress had always fought against terrorism and even sacrificed leaders like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, she said. While Sonia, who was running behind schedule, got a lukewarm response to her rally at Tumkur, the Bangalore rally held in KR Puram constituency and featuring the who’s who of the state Congress leadership attracted a good crowd. The Congress leader said her party was keen to “provide a responsible, transparent and responsive government which will work in tandem with aspirations of the people”. She said poll promises made by other parties were intended to mislead people. Selfish and opportunistic policies were being employed. “These parties are ready to compromise on their ideology and are misleading people,” she added. Sonia said the UPA Government had fulfilled its promise of reservation for women by introducing the 33 per cent reservation Bill. “The Congress always believed in balance and inclusive growth. It has taken along with it farmers, workers, women and other backward classes,” she said. On the issue of price rise, Sonia said the UPA Government was taking all measures to procure more wheat and rice to stabilise prices. The BJP, which had mocked Rajiv Gandhi’s vision for the growth of the IT and BT sector in Bangalore, were now claiming credit for it, the AICC president said.
