In her first-ever rally at the Brigade Parade Ground as Congress president this afternoon, Sonia Gandhi dipped into history to hold the Marxists in Bengal responsible for bringing the BJP into power at the Centre. But in the red bastion, the thrust of her speech was more on the saffron as she described the entire BJP leadership as thoroughly ‘‘corrupt’’. She avoided any reference to Mamata Banerjee of Trinamool Congress.‘‘BJP’s sole agenda is to cling on to power at any cost and for that they are ready to make any sacrifice,’’ she said in Hindi. She charged the BJP for injecting poison into the Indian society, using religion as its weapon. According to her, the status quo on Ayodhya should be maintained as long as the court verdict is not out.The Congress president said the BJP has neither the vision nor the direction to run a great country like India. ‘‘It was surviving on false promises and opportunism,’’ she added.Sonia accused the CPI(M) of joining hands with this communal outfit 14 years ago. ‘‘In their tirade against Indiraji and later against Rajivji, the CPI(M) joined hands with these elements,’’ she said. Referring to the state’s present financial crisis, Sonia said it has now become difficult for the government to even pay its employees. There is high incidence of atrocities against women in Bengal and scores of Congress supporters have been murdered, she said, urging the Congressmen to fight back.State Congress president Pranab Mukherjee and other leaders like Somen Mitra and Priyaranjan Das Munshi however, however, could not resist a dig at Mamata Banerjee. Without naming the Trinamool chief, they said it was disgraceful that some leaders from Bengal were too keen on a Cabinet berth and waited for days in Delhi to get an appointment with BJP leaders. The National Congress is too big a party to be weakened by such leaders, they said.
