'Dangerous misuse of mandate by BJP'

New Delhi: Expressing her concern over the "grim" economic situation in the country, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday accused the BJP government at the Centre of misusing its mandate in the "most dangerous" fashion.

While chairing a meeting of senior party leaders, Gandhi said that it's not enough to be aggressive on social media as "democracy was at peril, and the mandate was being misused."

"We need to confront and combat the forces that appropriate Gandhiji, Sardar Patel, BR Ambedkar and misrepresent their true message for their nefarious ends. We must stand up fearlessly to fight on the streets, fight in villages, towns and cities. The Congress party must have an agitational agenda, and merely being active on social media is not enough," Gandhi said.

Expressing her concern over the economic slowdown, Gandhi said, "The economic situation is very grim. Losses are mounting. General confidence has been shaken, and all that the government doing is indulging in unprecedented vendetta politics to divert attention from mounting losses."

With mega event for 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and 'RSS-like Preraks' on the agenda, Gandhi chaired the meeting of senior party leaders, the 'first big meeting' by the Congress interim president after taking charge.

The meeting was attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, AICC general secretaries and in-charges of various states, state government chiefs and CLP leaders, among others. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was not present in the meeting.

While Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy were present at the meeting, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Bhagel did not attend. However, senior MP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia was present in the meeting.

At the meeting, the party decided to appoint 'preraks' or 'motivators' at the district level across the country to scale-up its mass contact programme. These preraks will work on the party agenda and look after party work much like the pracharaks in the RSS. This is a first of its kind of appointment within the Congress cadre.