'Mahaul' in our favour, but...: Sonia to Congressmen

With assembly polls in key states coming up, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said the "mahaul (public mood)" is in the party's favour but there is a need to sustain the momentum and goodwill generated for it in the Lok Sabha elections.

"We must not become complacent and over confident...I dare say that if we perform well, reflecting the trend that we witnessed in the Lok Sabha elections, national politics will undergo a transformation," she told the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP).

Gandhi also accused the Modi government of not drawing the right lessons from "their significant decline" in the Lok Sabha elections and persisting with their policy of "dividing communities and spreading an atmosphere of fear and animosity".

"Fortunately, the Supreme Court intervened at the right time," she said in an apparent reference to the stay on the orders passed by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand government asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the name of owners.

"But this can only be a temporary respite. Look at how the rules have been suddenly changed to permit the bureaucracy to participate in the activities of the RSS. It calls itself a cultural organisation but the whole world knows that it is the BJP's political and ideological base," Gandhi said.

Noting that elections will be held in four states, she urged party leaders to sustain the momentum and goodwill that had been generated for the party in the Lok Sabha elections.

"We must not become complacent and over confident. The 'mahaul' does favour us, but we have to work unitedly with a sense of purpose. I dare say that if we perform well, reflecting the trend that we witnessed in the Lok Sabha elections, national politics will undergo a transformation," Gandhi said.

Her remarks come ahead of assembly polls in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand as also the possibility of elections in Jammu and Kashmir this year.

She also slammed the Union Budget, saying that the pressing demands of farmers and youth in particular, have been totally ignored.

Allocations in a number of vital sectors have not done justice to the tasks required to be fulfilled, she said.

"There has been widespread disappointment, in spite of the prime minister, the finance minister and others to talk up the Budget and its so-called accomplishments. The Union Government, especially its top leadership, continues to be self-delusional as crores of families across the country are devastated by mounting unemployment and price rise," she said.