Days after Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of spreading "hatred and intolerance", his mother Sonia Gandhi on a thanksgiving visit to her constituency charged the ruling party with "crossing all limits of dignity" to stick to power.
"Various tactics were adopted to woo voters. Everyone in this country knows whether what happened in the elections was moral or immoral," the UPA chairperson said at her first public address after the Lok Sabha poll results.
"I know that nothing could have been more unfortunate for India than the ruling party crossing all limits of dignity to retain power," she told a gathering of party workers on Wednesday night.
Daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is Congress general secretary in charge of eastern UP, was by her side at the thanksgiving event.
Apparently hinting at electronic voting machines (EVMs), she claimed "many types of doubts" have emerged in the past few years over the country's electoral processes.
"There is a saying that there is no smoke without fire," Sonia Gandhi said.
Opposition parties have alleged that EVMS can be tampered with, giving the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party the advantage in an election.
On a three-day visit last week to Kerala's Wayanad, from where he won the Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi had accused Narendra Modi and the BJP of spreading "hatred and intolerance".
"Modi might have so much money. He might have media by his side... He might have rich friends with him but the Congress party will continue to fight against the intolerance created by the BJP," he had said in Malappuram.
"The hatred and intolerance created by the BJP and Modi will be dealt by the Congress party with love and affection," he said at his first public function after the drubbing the Congress got in the Lok Sabha polls.
Led by Modi and party chief Amit Shah, the BJP won 303 seats on its own and 352 with its NDA allies, a bigger mandate than in 2014.
In comparison, the Congress claimed just 52 seats and was wiped out in 18 states and Union Territories.
Rahul Gandhi, who also contested from his pocket borough of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh but lost to Union Minister Smriti Irani, has insisted that he wants to resign as party president.
