Congress President Sonia Gandhi has alleged that since the BJP came to power at the Centre, there has been an alarming increase in the number of cases of communal violence.

Addressing MPs at the Parliamentary Party meeting in New Delhi today, she said Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra and a number of other States have witnessed hundreds of incidents of communal violence and of late, there have been dangerous signals of intolerance. She asked party MPs to fight the BJP's politics of division and hatred and resist its authoritarian and sectarian tendencies. Mrs Gandhi accused the BJP- led NDA government of imitating and extending UPA's programmes and initiatives it had vehemently attacked previously.

Stating that prices of items of daily use are rising, hurting the common man, she said the government is trying to disguise its failures to improve the economy, by blaming the UPA government. She said the government has nothing new to offer to the people.The Congress President said the new government's motto appears to be minimum governance to protect the aam aadmi and maximum government to amass powers in the hands of the BJP.

Sonia Gandhi said the process of restoring the confidence of the public has begun and her party will fight with full might to revive itself. She asked Congress MPs to work to strengthen grassroots connections with voters. Mrs Gandhi said the party's spirit is not down though its numbers have reduced in the Lok Sabha.

Prominent among those who attended the meeting included former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Karan Singh.