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Sonia Gandhi Accuses BJP, AAP Of Making False Promises

Sonia Gandhi Accuses BJP, AAP Of Making False Promises
ROHTAK, INDIA - OCTOBER 4: Congress president Sonia Gandhi addresses during an election rally at Meham village on October 4, 2014 in Rothak, India. Accusing Modi government of hijacking policies of previous Congress regimes, she urged the people not to get swayed by 'hollow promises' and said that Congress was the only party which would ensure that development continues in Haryana. (Photo by Manoj Dhaka/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
ROHTAK, INDIA - OCTOBER 4: Congress president Sonia Gandhi addresses during an election rally at Meham village on October 4, 2014 in Rothak, India. Accusing Modi government of hijacking policies of previous Congress regimes, she urged the people not to get swayed by 'hollow promises' and said that Congress was the only party which would ensure that development continues in Haryana. (Photo by Manoj Dhaka/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Sunday attacked both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and accused them of making false promises to the people.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi today slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, saying one was a "pracharak" and the other a "dharnebaaj", as she asked voters to save Delhi from those who make only "hollow promises".

"While one party has a pracharak, who only does 'prachar' the other just has a dharnebaaj, who is all the time busy organising dharnas. Delhi needs good governance and not false promises... BJP and AAP can only talk big and make hollow promises.

"There is a need to be careful of those doing politics of pretension. The country is not run by mere slogans," she said.

Addressing her first election rally for the Feb. 7 Delhi polls at Meethapur here near Badarpur, the Congress chief accused the Modi government of "weakening" the schemes initiated by the previous UPA dispensation, including on food security and land acquisition, and doing nothing to check corruption despite the "golden promises" made during the Lok Sabha polls.

She also raked up the issue of communal violence that took place in some parts of Delhi before the Assembly election dates were announced and alleged that it was being done to "capture power" in the state.

"There are some forces which cause incidents like what happened in Trilokpuri and Dilshad Garden. Such forces will have to be defeated which spread the politics of hatred," she said as she appealed to people to strengthen secular forces.

Gandhi said that after the Assembly polls of 2013 in Delhi threw up a hung mandate, Congress had supported AAP in forming the government here, thinking they will deliver on their promise of making Delhi a better place. "But they could not run the government...and fled," she said.

"I ask them (AAP) whether it was not their job to fight corruption and provide cheap water and electricity. And then the other party (BJP) kept on delaying elections in Delhi and continued with its rule here in the name of President's rule," she said

"You must remember the huge promises made to you by BJP before election. Where is the black money they promised to bring back, where is employment? Has inflation been curbed? We introduced land acquisition act so that land of people cannot be acquired by inappropriate means. We took many steps to empower poor of nation, but today the Modi government is weakening these acts to take away power from poor. This is the reality of their hollow promises of 'good days'," she said.

"The country does not run by raising slogans and protesting. On a side there are people (BJP) who make hollow promises and on the other, there are people (AAP) who only sit on 'dharnas'," she added.

The elections for the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held in a single phase on February 7. The counting of votes will take place on February 10.

Delhi has been under President's rule since February after the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government stepped down after 49 days in office.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.