Sonia hits out at PM, says dissent is ‘suppressed’ under BJP rule

NEWDELHI: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that “bluff, bluster and intimidation” have been Modi government’s philosophy and hailed party president Rahul Gandhi for taking opponents “head-on”. Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party’s general body meeting, Sonia Gandhi also praised her son for bringing in fresh energy and putting together a team which blends experience and youth. In a blistering attack on the Centre, Sonia Gandhi alleged that there is an “all-pervasive atmosphere of fear and strife” across the country.

“We go to the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls with renewed confidence and resolve. Our victories in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have given us new hope,” she said at the meeting attended by Rahul Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress’ leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad among others. “Our opponents were earlier projected as being invincible. The Congress president took them head-on, mobilising and motivating lakhs of our workers who, with him, gave their all. We won in what were believed to be their strongholds,” she said.

MULAYAM WISHES TO SEE MODI AS PM AGAIN

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday said he wished to see Narendra Modi back as prime minister, remarks which left the opposition squirming in Lok Sabha but were greeted by cheers from the treasury benches with the PM acknowledging Yadav’s “blessings” with folded hands.

“I wish that all members come back to the House,” Yadav said during the last sitting of the 16th Lok Sabha.