HYDERABAD, 16 April 2004 — Congress party President Sonia Gandhi yesterday exhorted the people of Andhra Pradesh to vote out ruling Telugu Desam Party-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance and thus save both the state and the country.

Addressing election meetings of Congress and its alliance partner Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) at Nizamabad and Mahbubnagar towns in the backward Telangana region yesterday afternoon, she told the voters that if they vote for TDP it would not only give a fresh lease of life to that party but also to BJP-led NDA government at the center. “Inflict a defeat on both TDP and BJP and save the state and the country,” she said.

Sonia, who was on a day-long visit to Andhra Pradesh on her last campaign for the first phase of assembly and Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April 20 in the state, later addressed another rally at Visakhapatnam.

The meeting at Nizamabad was the first major joint election meeting of the Congress-TRS alliance. TRS President K. Chandrasekhara Rao shared the dais with Sonia Gandhi and also addressed the meeting. Thousands of people gathered for the rally, braving the scorching heat touching 43 degree Celsius.

Sonia skipped a reference to the demand for separate statehood, the poll plank of TRS, but assured that her party would do everything for the development of the backward region.

Lashing out at TDP, she said the regional party not only ruined the state during its nine-year rule but it was due to its support that BJP remained in power at the center for six years. She alleged that both the parties worked to serve their self-interests.

“During the TDP rule, the state has not seen any progress nor has there been any change in the life of common man. There was change only in the lives of TDP leaders and their supporters,” she said sarcastically.

She told the people that by exercising their right to vote, they could change the governments.