The meeting at Bhor, some 50 km from Pune, organised by Rayreshwar Dongri Vikas Parishad, turned out to be a Congress election rally because Sonia Gandhi's speech was confined to matters political for the 15 minutes that she spoke.

Calling upon people to stay away from `betrayers' and forces out to spread hatred on the basis of religion, she said her party had been betrayed. `It happened in the past too with Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Our own men betrayed us but the people of this country never supported them.'

Launching a frontal attack on the BJP-Shiv Sena Government in the State, Sonia said it was up to the people now to weaken `those forces in Maharashtra which were using the name ofShivaji to spread social hatred.' Yet she herself did not fail to invoke Shivaji, describing him as a symbol of secularism, tolerance and ideology.

`Shivaji's principles are being flouted. The people who use Shivaji's name do not follow in his footsteps,' she maintained.

Sonia also peppered her speech with references to the Kargil conflict. While lauding the soldiers for laying down their lives while throwing out Pakistani infiltrators, she hit out at the Vajpayee Government. Lives of soldiers, she said, need not have been sacrificed if only the Government had shown a little alertness and detected the intrusion in time. `The Government neither saw, listened nor acted. This is not merely a sin but a crime.'

Underlining the need for a stable Government, Sonia said that Pakistan dared to intrude only because of the instability in Delhi. She claimed that Congress was the only party which could provide a stable Government because it could not only protect the interests of all weaker sections but had all therequisite experience, devotion, commitment and capability to run the Government.

Maintaining that development and progress had come to a standstill because of political instability, she appealed to the people to vote for the Congress and ensure a stable Government.