AICC meet: Congress says ready for 2014 elections

Making a scathing attack on the BJP, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today warned that the country faced the biggest threat from communal forces and their ideology even as the AICC resolution called upon "like-minded political and social forces to come together at this critical juncture". (IE Photo: Renuka Puri)

Apparently referring to the recent drubbing in the Assembly polls, she said there might be "some shortcomings" in meeting the hopes and expectations of the common people and requested all to "be a little soft" towards her party in view of the slew of programmes and policies implemented by the UPA government. (IE Photo: Renuka Puri)

The resolution's phraseology was almost similar to the one adopted by the Congress at the Shimla Conclave in 2003 when the party shed its reservation to coalition politics. Congress had then called for unity of secular forces. (IE Photo: Renuka Puri)

Asking the party workers not to lose heart after the recent drubbing in assembly elections, Gandhi said that victory and defeat are inescapable in politics and Congress always has the resilience to bounce back by fighting the challenges strongly. (IE Photo: Renuka Puri)

"Congress has faced many difficult times in the past, much tougher than today, but we have never lost heart," she said signalling that the party was battle ready for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. (IE Photo: Renuka Puri)

Describing secularism as the biggest identity of the country, Gandhi hit out at the BJP, without taking its name, saying the policy of the main opposition party is of dividing society on communal lines, imposing uniformity in the name of unity. (IE Photo: Renuka Puri)

"The biggest danger to the country¿s social fabric is from the communal forces and their ideologies. Congress has always worked to unite people and has never compromised with communalism. Secularism means equal faith in all religions (sarva dharma sambhava). It is not an electoral compulsion for us. This is something which we deeply believe in," she said. (IE Photo: Renuka Puri)

Striking a similar note, the omnibus resolution moved by senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and seconded by P Chidambaram for consideration at the AICC meet said, "the recent political setbacks are an important wake up call" underlining the need to enhance the connect with people and work harder. (IE Photo: Renuka Puri)

BJP today charged the Congress with trying every trick, including invoking the threat to secularism and tying up with any force, to keep the main opposition from coming to power after seeing the "writing on the wall that its defeat is certain" in Lok Sabha polls. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

Speaking at the BJP National Executive here, party president Rajnath Singh said there is growing antagonism against the Congress mainly due to "malgovernance, indecisiveness and corruption" in the UPA government. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

"Congress can see the writing on the wall and knows that defeat is writ large there. Congress is losing the elections and hence is trying to ensure that BJP does not get a clear majority. It is making every effort to stop the BJP's march to success," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters, quoting Singh. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

The BJP Chief said since Congress is aware it is going to lose the polls, it is now trying every trick in the book to ensure that a "majboor (weak)" government is formed at the Centre. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

Though Singh did not name Aam Admi Party, whose growing clout is a matter of concern for the BJP, party sources said he was making a veiled reference to it. Congress is supporting the AAP government in Delhi and BJP has often alleged that the latter is the B-team of the former. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

BJP is also concerned about Congress encouraging the non-UPA, non-NDA parties to keep the saffron party from forming a government in case of a hung Parliament. Rajnath Singh also referred to the issue of secularism, a matter on which Congress has targeted it often, and said many forces want India to be a weak state. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)