Sonia flays NDA proposal on foreign origin issue

BELLARY, SEPT 3: Congress president Sonia Gandhi tonight reacted sharply to the proposal of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance NDA to...

BELLARY, SEPT 3: Congress president Sonia Gandhi tonight reacted sharply to the proposal of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance NDA to bar persons of foreign origin to hold high offices and asserted that the issue of her foreign originality had not hurt her.

Criticising the NDA8217;s proposal, Gandhi, in an informal chat with newspersons, said 8220;Bharatiya sanskriti me mujhe ek udaharan dikhaiye, jis me aisi koi baat bahu rani ke bare mein kahi gai hai,8221; show me one example in Indian culture where such things have been stated about a daughter-in-law.

Asked to comment on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee8217;s remarks that Gandhi cannot become prime minister because of her foreign origin, she said Vajpayee had earlier maintained that he was not going to raise this issue: 8220;They say something but do quite another,8221; she said.

Dismissing Vajpayee8217;s remarks that there was confusion within the Congress party on the coalition issue, Gandhi said, 8220;It was a hypothetical question to which I gave a hypothetical answer. The Congress is going to be victorious.8221; On August 27, the Congress president had said that her party was prepared to consider forming a coalition government in case of hung verdict in the Lok Sabha polls.

Continuing her attack on the Vajpayee government, she said there were allegations of corruption aaginst him in several things including telecom and import of sugar. 8220;Sugar was imported when there was a glut in the market,8221; she said referring to the alleged import of sugar from Pakistan.

To a question whether she was initiating her children into politics, Gandhi replied, 8220;Both had accompanied me during the last elections also and this has nothing to do with their initiation into politics.8221;

Asked whether they would ever contest elections, she said it was for them to decide. She also said that she received excellent response in her public meetings in various parts of the country including Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka and observed great enthusiasm among the people.

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Asked which of the two constituencies she would retain, she said, 8220;it is too early to say.8221; Earlier in the day, Sonia and her daughter Priyanka Vadra hit the streets of the sleepy Karnataka town taking the party campaign to a crescendo for the high-voltage electoral battle against senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.