We must sustain momentum: Sonia Gandhi to Congress MPs ahead of upcoming Assembly polls

Sonia Gandhi discusses Congress strategy for upcoming Assembly polls, criticizes NDA government's budget and census decisions.

With Assembly polls in key states coming up, Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on July 31 said the “mahaul (public mood)“ is in the party’s favour but there is a need to sustain the momentum and the goodwill that was generated for in the Lok Sabha polls.

Also Read: Preaching consensus, provoking confrontation

“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 CPP.

Criticising the NDA government, Ms. Gandhi said that pressing demands of farmers and youth in particular totally ignored in the Union Budget.

“There has been widespread disappointment with the Union Budget despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman talking it up”, she added.

“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,” Ms. Gandhi said.