Rae Bareli: Continuing her attack on the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government in Uttar Pradesh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today (Jun 12, 2004) called upon party workers to be ready for a "long drawn battle" if the State Government did not mend its ways towards addressing peoples' problems.

"The caste and communal politics pursued by the successive non-Congress regimes are responsible for the current State of sorry affairs of the State," Gandhi said addressing a large gathering of party workers at Lalganj on the concluding day of her two-day thanksgiving visit to her Lok Sabha constituency.

Gandhi, who was accompanied by her son and Congress MP from neighbouring Amethi, Rahul Gandhi, exhorted partymen to strengthen the organisation at the grassroot level to enable it to take its fight to a logical end.

She regretted that the areas (Amethi and Rae Bareli) were "ignored" by both the Centre and the State Governments during the last few years.

Observing that forming a coalition Government at the Centre was a "new experience" for Congress, Gandhi exuded confidence that it would be able to live up to the expectations of the people who voted it to power.

"The Congress-led coalition Government at the Centre will succeed in fulfilling the aspirations of the people of the country who voted it to power defying all speculations."

Gandhi said that she was "not in active politics for some special post" but to ensure that the country regained its past glory and to re-establish value-based politics.