Sushma’s salvo: Dream on, Sonia

‘‘In Congress there is foreign-born Sonia, who does not know the ABC of India. On the other side, is a towering personality Atal Behari Vajpayee who knows the pulse of India. Where is the need for changing the Prime Minister?’’ she said.

Sushma said Sonia had a ‘‘secret desire’’ to become the PM thinking it would come on a platter. Taking the crowd on a flashback mode, Sushma remembered how Sonia had in 1999 submitted a list of 272 MPs whom she claimed supported her. ‘‘When the claimed support became hollow, Sonia and her party had to cut a very sorry figure.”

Questioning Sonia’s credentials, the BJP leader wanted to know in which way had Sonia served the country or led a people’s movement. ‘‘Does she know anything about India and its pluralistic nature of socio-religious order? Can she name even the great rivers that flow across the country?’’

‘‘Sonia Gandhi does not know anything about this country, let alone understanding Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi or even Karnataka’s famous Yakshagana. She wants to become the PM only because she is the wife of Rajiv Gandhi and daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi,’’ she asserted.

‘‘Vajpayee is the harbinger of coalition culture. He has ended the era of instability, whereas Congress is the harbinger of destruction and destabilisation,’’ Sushma Swaraj said, asking the people to give a chance to the BJP to rule Karnataka. BJP leader Sunil Shastri and LS candidate Basavaraj Patil Sedam also spoke.