NAGPUR, SEPT 1: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday aggressively took on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the telecom and sugar scams but struck an emotional chord with a mammoth gathering in Nagpur in response to personal allegations against her.The Vajpayee government which boasts of victory in Kargil struck surreptitious deals with relatives of the Pakistan prime minister to import huge quantities of sugar, she alleged. All this while there was a bumper domestic production and farmers in India were struggling to sell their produce, she lamented.Referring to the telecom scam, she condemned the BJP-led government for deciding to favour a few thus costing the nation exchequer a loss of about Rs 25,000 crore.``It is clear that they don't care about the people. For them you are just a ladder to gain power. Those who talk of principles have sold them with great ease. Last time there were 18 (BJP allies). Now, we hear there will be about 24,'' she said.The BJP which once asked for votes in the name of religion has completely dumped all such issues because they are no longer convenient. ``Now they're playing politics with the martyrdom of our jawans,'' she said.She claimed that the Vajpayee government had knowledge of the intrusion in Kargil last September but the prime minister still chose to indulge in the ``gimmick'' of taking a bus ride to Lahore.To conceal their failure on all fronts, the BJP and its partners are now raising fingers at her and questioning her patriotism, she said. In a voice laced with emotion she referred to the assassination of her mother-in-law and her husband. ``He was everything to me. I was shattered. But I realised that by being a part of this family there was a responsibility on my shoulders. This family has given this country leaders who had a clear vision and whose politics was liberal,'' she said.The personal charges being made against her, therefore, have no effect, she said. ``I'm at peace. There is no anger. I know that my destiny is connected with the soil of this country. No words, no pettiness can break this bond. My critics have apparently made no sacrifice. They haven't received as much love from the people as I have. I wish they too get to experience this love some day so that they can understand my patriotism,'' she said.Earlier, as the sea of spectators waited for more than four hours for her to arrive at Nagpur's historic Kasturchand Park, the Congress-RPI Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha candidates from Nagpur district tried to keep the show going. Even the roads around the ground were packed to capacity forcing policemen to remove their barricades in several places to allow more people near the venue.
