New Delhi: As the news poured in that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has declined to be the Prime Minister, hundreds of shocked and awe-struck Congress workers today (May 18, 2004) staged sit-ins and hunger strikes across the country, denounced Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for carrying out a "vilification" campaign against her and urged their supreme leader to re-consider her decision.

Shouting anti-BJP slogans, they took out processions burning effigies of saffron party leaders and fervently pleaded Gandhi to head the new Government.

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Some even threatened self-immolation if Gandhi refused to relent on her decision.