New Delhi: Notwithstanding Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s disclaimers, Congress today (Nov 18) suggested that the outcome of the coming Assembly elections would be a referendum on the performance of the Vajpayee Government.

"Performance of Central Government will remain a subject matter of debate during the polls," senior party leader Ambika Soni told reporters.

Elaborating on the issue, she said that the Centre's "step-motherly" attitude towards drought-hit Rajasthan and its "failure" in making adequate preparations for electricity in Madhya Pradesh while creating Chhatisgarh would certainly remain issues in the campaign.

Stating that these issues constituted "indictment" of the Centre, she said there were several other matters like price rise and hike in the price of diesel which are "directly connected" with the Union Government.

Soni, who is also in-charge of All India Congress Committee (AICC)'s media department, said that with several "handpicked" Central Ministers including Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Shahnawaz Hussain being dispatched to the election-going States, "definitely a message has gone about direct involvement of the Central Government".

She, however, insisted that the Congress did not want to make it a negative campaign and wanted people to vote for it on the basis of its positive performance.

PTI