'BJP Has Nothing New to Offer, Welcome To Steal Our Ideas', Taunts Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Congress, today accused the BJP of having "nothing new to offer the country." She said the BJP, since coming to power, has implemented the policies that were introduced by the government her party led till May, when it was crushed in the national election. (Read: Congress President Sonia Gandhi's Speech to Party MPs)

"They are welcome to steal our ideas...imitation is the best form of flattery," she said.

Mrs Gandhi's comments were made in a speech to her party's law-makers at Parliament this morning, where she acknowledged that "we have been reduced in numbers to an all-time low in the Lok Sabha." (Drastic Rise in Communal Violence Since BJP Took Power: Sonia Gandhi)

The campaign that resulted in just 44 seats for the Congress was fronted by her son, 44-year-old Rahul Gandhi. 

The Congress has laid claim, unsuccessfully so far, to get the post of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The government has countered that with less than a tenth of the Lok Sabha's seats, the party is not entitled to the post. (Congress and Government Trade Barbs Over the Post of Leader of the Opposition)

Mrs Gandhi repeated today the allegations that Rahul Gandhi controversially made on Friday - that the BJP is engineering communal violence for political benefits, especially in states like Uttar Pradesh where important by-elections are due soon. (Uttar Pradesh Riots Engineered? Rahul Gandhi Thinks So, BJP Does Not)

Referring to "pernicious signals of intolerance" by the BJP and its affiliates, she said that the Congress must check deliberate attempts to polarise voters.

Last week, Mr Gandhi, 44, abandoned a long tradition of low-level activity in Parliament to join other parliamentarians from the Congress as they disrupted proceedings in the Lok Sabha by rushing to the Well of the house, an area near the Speaker's chair that is off-limits to MPs. Mr Gandhi wanted an urgent discussion to be held on communal violence- a demand his party has made repeatedly since then. 

Attacking the PM, Mr Gandhi had said, "There is a mood in Parliament that only one man's voice counts for anything in this country."  (Just One Man's Voice Heard In Parliament, Says Rahul Gandhi)