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Empty MPCC office greets
Prasada in Bombay

Swati Kulkarni in Bombay

Sonia Gandhi's challenger to the post of All India Congress Committee president, Jitendra Prasada, Wednesday lashed out at the party leadership for postponing organisational elections in some states and creating curfew-like conditions in Pradesh Congress Committee offices.

Speaking to newsmen at Hotel Ritz in south Bombay, Prasada said the postponement of organisational elections has come as a major embarrassment to the Central Election Authority chairman, Ram Niwas Mirdha.

Referring to his visit to the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee office at Tilak Bhavan here, Prasada said he was greeted by an empty office and locked rooms. "They can lock the party offices, but they can't lock the conscience of a Congress worker," he said.

On his chances of emerging victorious, Prasada said this fight "is not for numbers, but for ideals."

Prasada said today when the Congress has been reduced to just 112 MPs in the Lok Sabha, it is imperative to hold a debate to pin-point the reasons for the slide.

He demanded that the report of the A K Antony committee, which looked into the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, must be made public.

He denied he was waging a personal fight against Sonia Gandhi at the behest of Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar. "On the contrary, I had supported the expulsion of Pawar, Tariq Anwar and P A Sangma when they raised the banner revolt against Soniaji," he said.

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