The Hindu : Vote on account a joke: Sonia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 01, 2004

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Vote on account a joke: Sonia

By Arunkumar Bhatt

DIGRAS (MAHARASHTRA), JAN. 31. The Leader of the Opposition and Congress president, Sonia Gandhi today assailed the National Democratic Government's move for an vote on account and said that it was nothing but "empty slogans and a joke."

Ms. Gandhi said the BJP-led Government had "no guts to present the full budget" as it feared that it would expose the Government. "If they really wanted to do something for the poor and the farmers, why did they not do anything in the past four to five years and why did they not fulfil their poll promises," she asked. She was speaking at the Golden Jubilee convention of the All-India Banjara Seva Sangh (AIBSS) here.

Ms. Gandhi virtually turned the Banjara convention into her party's election rally and was unmindful of the absence of the Nationalist Congress Party leader, Sharad Pawar, who was expected to join her on the dais.

She did not refer to him at all. The NCP was, however, represented by the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker, Arun Gujarati. Also present were the Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, and the Deputy Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Shivraj Patil.

She said that the BJP-led Government was "deceiving" the people and it was a Government of "price rise and unemployment." She alleged that "corruption under this Government surpassed all previous levels."

Ms. Gandhi mentioned the steps taken by the Maharashtra Government for the education of students belonging to nomadic tribes such as the Banjaras but did not comment on the principal demands of the community — its inclusion either in the Scheduled Tribes list or the creation of a third schedule for communities such as theirs and a place for their dialect, Gor Boli, in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

In an apparent bid to reclaim the party's traditional constituency of the backward communities, Ms. Gandhi said that the late Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, and her successor, Rajiv Gandhi, had great sympathy for these communities.

She said the Union Government had not helped Maharashtra fully in meeting the drought conditions and observed that against the State's demand for Rs. 1700 crores, New Delhi had provided only Rs. 50 crores.

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