Hyderabad: Congress on October 4 took strong objection to Defence Minister George Fernandes' "threat" to party president Sonia Gandhi to sue her on Defence deals.

"To cover up his own misdeeds in Defence deals like 'coffin scam' and 'Tehelka exposition', Fernandes is diverting people's attention by issuing such threats to Congress president," All India Congress Committee (AICC) member V Hanumantha Rao told reporters.

"We will take up the scam issues to the village level and educate people about the corruption in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and also about the scam-tainted ministers in the Vajpayee Cabinet," he said.

Questioning the Defence Minister in ordering coffins from the US, Rao asked, "Don't we have carpenters, wood and nails to make coffins in our own country", and added that the misuse of Kargil fund is another glaring example of the BJP-led government.

The Congress would soon launch an agitation against all such malpractices by the NDA government throughout the country soon, he said.

Rao said for the first time in the history of the country, national and social security have been threatened.

"Terrorism has touched its zenith and people feel insecure under the NDA government. This is all because of mismanagement and the BJP and its allies cannot escape by making baseless, unfounded and false allegations against the Congress leadership," he added.

PTI