Sonia lacks accountability: BJP

Later in the day, in his election speech on Doordarshan, Vajpayee said the choice before the people was quot;either the bumpy road of political instability and chaos or political stability and prosperityquot;.

The mid-term poll, according to him, was the end-result of the politics of opportunism practised by the United Front UF and the Congress. quot;We have seen the weakening of our institutions. What we have not seen isgovernance. This in a sense has been India8217;s tragedy for the past 50 years,quot; he observed.

On the eve of the 1996 elections, the country, he pointed out, had a Congress regime that was quot;morally rudderlessquot; and quot;corruptquot; and the situation had now been made worse by quot;the follies of the UFquot;.

quot;If the task of setting right the wrongs was daunting in 1996, it is doubly so today,quot; Vajpayee said.

The BJP leader said his party believed in the equality of all faiths as it was part of India8217;s civilisational consciousness and urged the minority communities to quot;judge us by our performance in the states where BJP and its allies are in power where we have kept our promise to protect their lives, dignity and honourquot;.

He said the BJP would not compromise on India8217;s internal and external security and that a quot;moment comes when the right choice can change the course of a nation8217;s history. That moment has arrived for Indiaquot;.

The BJP, if voted to power at the Centre, would give a clean and transparent Government withequal emphasis on stability and progress, Vajpayee said, adding he would not ask for a second term if he failed to keep the promises.

Meanwhile, the BJP today also accused Congress President Sitaram Kesri of following a quot;devious hidden agendaquot; with regard to the Coimbatore blasts. quot;He is diverting attention from those who were responsible for the blasts and attacking those who were the targets,quot; said BJP national executive member Arun Jaitley.

Attacking Kesri for his quot;bizarrequot; statements on the blasts 8212; that the RSS was behind them 8212; Jaitley said Kesri8217;s statements were the latest illustration of a party pursuing votebank politics. quot;BJP President LK Advani was the obvious target of the blast. Instead of condemning the blast, Kesri is indulging in diversionary tactics.quot;

quot;Dynasticquot; role

NANDED: Congress star campaigner Sonia Gandhi yesterday said she has decided to campaign for the party for the coming Lok Sabha elections to continue the tradition of the Nehru-Gandhi family of servingthe country.

Addressing a campaign meeting here for Bhaskarrao Patil Khatgaonkar, the Congress nominee from Nanded and son-in-law of former Union Minister S B Chavan, she alleged that during the tenure of the BJP and the United Front, divisive forces and regionalism had taken centre-stage.

quot;Due to the presence of these factors, India is passing through a delicate phase. Only Congress can provide a stable Government to save the country from the crisis,quot; she added.