Informally kicking off NCP's campaign for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, the NCP leaders heavily assailed Sonia and her coterie for hitting a death nail for the Congress ideologies. The Gandhi-Nehru's Congress was being turned into the Italian Congress, they said.

Addressing a largely attended rally, Congress (R) MLA and newly appointed chief of NCP's Kolhapur district unit Baba Kupekar stated that Sonia was responsible for toppling the Vajpayee-led government and imposing mid-term elections in wake of the impending 6th report of the contentious gun deal.

Kupekar who was asked to quit his post of Kolhapur District Congress Committee for ``having failed'' to get passed a resolution supporting Sonia Gandhi, strongly condemned Congress (I) leaders in Maharashtra including former Union Minister S B Chavan, former Chief Minister A R Antulay, MPCC chief Prataprao Bhosale and others for their false propaganda against Pawar.

Kupekar made a reference to alleged ``Italian links'' of former bureaucrat Ram Pradhan and Congressman from Goa Wilfred D'Souza. ``That's precisely why the Goan Congressman gets protection from the Congress high command and MLAs from Maharashtra are dragged to dock,'' he said.

Former minister Digvijay Khanvilkar nagged at the MPCC veterans, stating that those lacking grass-roots support were running the Congress committee. Former mayor and NCP city unit chief R K Powar MLAs Namdeo Bhoite, Shahaji Patil, former MLC Baburao Dharwade also spoke.

BJP kicks off poll campaign
Buoyed by the adverse political developments in the Congress, the city unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Sunday began its preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.

In a rally of party workers held on Sunday the party leaders exhorted them to focus the election campaign on the Congress's activities of destabiling successive governments and its failure to provide a suitable alternative.

The party rally, held at the Ganesh Kala Krida Manch, was attended among others by executive president of the State Planning Board Prakash Jawdekar, social welfare ministger Bhai Girkar, former MP Anna Joshi, former minister Dilip Kamble, MLA Girish Bapat, Vijay Kale, Vikas Mathkari, Suhas Kulkarni and Suresh Nashikkar.

The meeting, in which several workers from other parties joined the BJP, also seemed to be a rally in support of city unit president Pradeep Rawat who is being projected as the party candidate for the Pune Lok Sabha seat.