Sonia Gandhi was appointed interim Congress president last month.

Barely a month after being named the Congress's interim president, Sonia Gandhi today chalked out a roadmap for taking on the BJP amid what she called a "peril" of democracy. Accusing the BJP of "misusing" the mandate it received, Sonia Gandhi said it is "not enough to be active and aggressive on the social media... far more important is to go to the people directly".

"Democracy has never been at greater peril than it is now... As I said a few weeks back, the mandate of 2019 is now being misused and abused in a most dangerous fashion," Sonia Gandhi said at an internal meeting of the party meant to discuss its rejuvenation and formulate strategy for the coming round of state elections.



The Congress, she said, must "stand up fearlessly to fight on the streets, fight in villages, towns and cities". The party, she said, must have a concrete agitational agenda on issues of pressing concern to the people-whether they be economic or social.

Summing up what she said were problems being faced by the country, she said, there is a prolonged economic slump, job losses are mounting by the day, confidence of the investors is getting shakier and the government appears more and more "clueless and insensitive" by the day.



The Congress, party leaders said, will begin a membership drive and there will be a house to house campaign. All senior leaders including the Chief Ministers, she said, should connect with booth-level workers, and have a training programme for them.

They should become the sounding boards for the party's new plans, she said. A large scale padyatra will be held on October 2.

Mrs Gandhi was handed the reins of the party in August - more than two months after Rahul Gandhi stepped down as the party chief following the party's disastrous performance in the Lok Sabha elections. The double blow had left the party in deep crisis and many leaders had made a beeline for the BJP. "All I can say is that they have revealed their opportunistic character," she said.