Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said the country has decisively rejected the divisive ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Bharatiya Janata Party and their allied organisations.

Addressing the Congress members of Parliament minutes after she was elected the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Gandhi said the people have rejected the hate-filled campaigns of the RSS, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other organisations, as also the politics of arrogance and personal attacks.

In her acceptance speech, Gandhi thanked the MPs for reposing faith in her.  "The people of India have chosen us to represent their aspirations, not ours," she said.

She specially welcomed the party's young first-time MPs and also spared a thought for those "who fought hard, but could not make it." They should not lose heart, she said.

She congratulated all her party colleagues for putting up a great fight against all odds and bringing the party back to power.

She reminded her MPs that they must never forget that it is the people's mandate to work for them, for the poorer sections of society.