Addressing a well-attended public meeting here on Saturday to mark merger of Shankersinh Vaghela's Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) into the Congress, Sonia said expecting fair and just treatment to common man from the BJP was expecting too much of it because it was playing into the hands of the forces which were out to destroy the country's secular fabric.

Regretting that Gandhian ideology was being trampled upon in the very state where the great man was born, she said it was high time the voters proved by ousting the BJP from power that there was no place in the society for communal elements.

Making cursory mention of problems plaguing Gujarat for decades, like the Narmada project hurdles, closed mills, persecution of minorities, andfarmers' difficulties among others, Sonia said there was one way out to steer clear of them and that was to vote for the Congress which alone could provide a stable and efficient government. She said the party was gaining strength in Gujarat and expressed the hope that people in Gujarat would support the Congress and promised that if voted to power her party would bring an end to their woes.

Sonia made special mention of Vaghela and thanked him for merging his party with Congress. Amid loud applause, she welcomed the merger. She also said corruption had become hallmark of the BJP right from Gandhinagar to Delhi and that despite being a caretaker government, it was going on finalising critical deals with a purpose too obvious to elaborate.

The AICC chief bitterly criticised the BJP government at the Centre for inept handling of Kargil crisis and said precious lives of Army jawans were wasted due to this carelessness. The government owes an explanation to the country as to when it came to know of theinfiltration and what it did after knowing about it. The Vajpayee government should have taken the opposition into confidence on the issue and by not doing so, it had insulted the democratic process, she said.

Vaghela, who outshone other speakers, launched a broadside on the BJP and once again vowed to root it out from the nation and state's political scene. Stating that Sonia was not a widow as wives of martyrs like Rajiv remained akhand saubhagyawati, Vaghela told the BJP not to question her origins as its own leaders were using lots of imported items.

Vaghela also condemned the BJP for ditching people on promised made to them with regard to Article 370, common civil code, and Ayodhya issue among others.

Thanking his colleagues for authorising him to decided on merger, he asked them to stand steady behind Sonia toward whom the whole country was looking with great expectation. `The language of heart is more communicative and her eyes are full of empathy for common man...such eyes can never cheatany body', Vaghela said of Sonia while replying to criticism that she could not speak Hindi.

Vaghela said the BJP's fascist regime had to be thrown out before it was too late. He said he had merged with the Congress with this objective which was also his ambition now. He expressed the hope that Sonia would take interest in Gujarat's development.