4:45 pm: We are ready to take on any challenge in the future, says Sonia Gandhi
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has the final word and says that Rahul Gandhi's speech is a sign that the campaign of the party is in safe hands.
"It shows we are ready to take on any challenge we face in the future," Sonia Gandhi said.
She said that there are many bills pending in Parliament that they would try and pass.
"The achievements of the UPA government will be a part of our campaign and we will publicise it as much as possible," Sonia said.
If we resolve to we can achieve anything. If we work unitedly there is no power that can stop the Congress, she said.
Even as she's speaking tens of activists have rushed to the stage to shake hands with Rahul Gandhi.
She finally ended her speech but the Congres activists continued to throng the stage trying to shake his hand.
4:40 pm: Will be PM if party chooses me, hints Rahul
The Prime Minister is picked by MPs and after the victory in the 2014 elections the same procedure will be followed, Rahul said.
"I have always said that I am a loyal soldier of this party and will take up any responsibility that you want me to take up," the Congress vice president said. So he doesn't mind being PM basically but won't be the Prime Ministerial candidate.
He also claimed the Congress party were the custodians of the idea of India.
"We will go into this battle as warriors with our heads held high. We will go into battle knowing exactly who we are and what we stand for," he said.
We will not stop till the battle is won, he said.
"I am proud of every single one of you," he said.
4:35 pm: Rahul Gandhi says Congress won't be going anyway, demands 12 LPG cylinders
Vowing to listen to the voice of the people in the country, Rahul Gandhi made the biggest demand of the speech to the Prime Minister.
"we want 12 cylinders. The Congress wants 12 cylinders a year. Mr Prime Minister we want 12 cylinders," the Congress vice president said.
The Prime Minister looked pretty unmoved but we suspect Veerappa Moily will do the needful shortly enough.
He said the opposition was cheating the people of the nation.
"The opposition will try and sell a bald man a comb. Now there is an opposition that will even try and given bald people a haircut," Rahul said.
He also took on the Congress's opponents who he said wanted a Congress free country and said that it was an impossible task.
"It cannot be done because Congress is a philosophy. It a philosophy that is in our hearts. It is philosophy of brotherhood," Rahul said.
You cannot destroy this philosophy because it is 3000 years old and is mentioned in ancient texts across religions, he said.
"Anyone who has attempted to destroy this philosophy has been destroyed themselves," Rahul said.
4:25 pm: The grand reform model a la Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi's promising a lot more changes in the party that he says will be implemented upto the Lok Sabha level.
"There are massive changes taking place in the party," Rahul said.
The Congress vice president said that the party had helped elevate 14 crore people from poverty
"We will put you in the middle class in the next five years," Rahul said.
The Congress vice president vowed to open up the education system so that like PCOs revolutionised the telecom industry the education sector will also be reformed greatly. (go figure)
"If you have a flimsy roof over your head it will be replaced by a strong one," he said.
You know what happens when the Congress puts its mind to anything, he said.
The Congress vice president said that he also wanted to ensure that at least 50 percent of the hall in future should be filled by women.
"At least 50 percent of the states should have women CMs," Rahul said.
He promised to fight for the rights of the aam aadmi and aurat.
"The opposition has not let us pass any of the legislation that we had on the anvil," he said, adding that party should take on the opposition's activists over this.
4:20 pm: Rahul Gandhi goes after the opposition, says only workers with Congress ideology in their blood will go ahead
Rahul Gandhi's on a roll and takes on the opposition by saying that the Congress unlike others they did not promise simple non-solutions (read AAP) and did not block Parliament year after year, day after day (read BJP).
"We do not respond that democratic structures be handed into the hands of one man," Rahul said.
He said that the response of the opposition was always to go in the opposite direction to what the Congress did.
The Congress leader said that many parties have spoken about the Lokpal but hadn't delivered.
"Who gave the country the Lokpal? Who gave it? Who?" he thundered. We imagine a few MPs cringed thinking they were going to be pulled up.
But the Congress leader quickly corrected that it was the Congress party and it was their achievement.
"We have given you the Lokpal and we want to give you something else. There are other bills in Parliament and we want to give the country these bills. These bills will transform the fight against corruption," Gandhi said.
He then switched to Hindi for his pyaare bhai and behen and said that in future only those with Congress in their blood who would be picked in the future.
"The party worker will be heard by the government," Rahul said, promising that it was the beginning of making the Congress a more democratic institution.
4:10 pm: MPs, MLAs should make laws not people in the street, says Rahul
"Today the MP and MLAs voice is not in lawmaking. Laws are being made by media, by judges and by people in the streets. Not the people elected to make laws. We have to bring you back into lawmaking," Gandhi thundered.
It is you who truly represent the people, he said, and questioned what power they have and said they needed to bring the voice of local self governments into lawmaking.
"Democracy is not implemented through one MP...We sit in Parliament and talk about the fact that MPs do not truly make laws. We need to being the voice of the MLA back into the legislature," he said.
The voice of the Congress party worker is the voice that elected representatives should listen to, he said.
Gandhi said that people should be able to walk into the political system but it wasn't happening presently.
"This is a turning point in our nation. No one is less to expect less than their complete right. No one wants to compromise...Frankly they deserve it," Rahul said.
4:00 pm: Biggest achievement is RTI, says Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi said that the biggest achievement of the government was the Right to Information Act.
"Nobody asked us to do this, we decided to do it," Gandhi said.
He also pointed out that the Aadhaar was a revolutionary concept which would allow the government to put money in a bank account of a person.
Strangely enough he singled out Mani Shankar Aiyar who he said had been fighting for the rights of panchayati raj. Evidently he missed Aiyar's barb on Modi, or he's chosen to ignore it in the larger scheme of things.
"No one can stop a common man from asking the government what he needs," Gandhi said. He's a lot more forceful in this meeting and he's got the audience in the palm of his hand.
"Tell me one step that the Congress government has taken that is not to give power to the people of this country," he thundered, adding that it was 'unmatched' in its endeavour.
4:00 pm: Rahul Gandhi starts speaking, thanks Manmohan Singh for his governance
If Rahul Gandhi felt like a rockstar before he definitely would feel better after today's speech. He just walked to the lectern and had to wait while cheering Congress men calmed down.
"Thank you, thank you," he said and paused for some time before giving up and just going on with his speech.
"It is an honour for me to speak to you. It is always an honour to speak to the soldiers of this party," he said. Much cheering again.
"For the last 10 years we have had the privilege of Manmohan Singh's leadership," he said, thanking the Prime Minister for his administration. When the applause seemed a little spartan, he urged the activists to clap harder.
"It is clear to me that Congress has made this democratic upsurge possible," he said.
3:00 pm: Rahul Gandhi to speak shortly
He's promised the assembled leaders that he will address all their queries in his speech and is set to do shortly.
Rahul Gandhi has got a strong endorsement from most of those present at the AICC meet and he's going to speak about why he wasn't made the party's prime ministerial candidate. We're expecting some dramatic statements and mention of Congress tradition but what remains to be seen is how the Congress campaign chief is going to address the issue that perhaps worries the party most: how will it counter the Modi campaign?
2:00 pm: PM says victory in elections will be Rahul Gandhi's victory, admits mistakes were made
PTI
Speaking at the AICC meet, Singh said, "There is no doubt about the fact that if we prepare properly for the 2014 polls and get the message about out achievements to the people we will win and it will be a victory for Rahulji."
The Prime Minister justified the Congress returning to power and said it was the only progressive party for the country.
"Our history is a proud one. Our philosophy is secular. We have always concentrated on uplifting the poor," Singh said.
Singh hit out at opposition parties that threatened the Congress's campaign and said that if their claims were analysed the truth of it being hollow would be revealed.
"We will have to also get the message to the people to analyse the record of the opposition parties when they have been in power. If compared it will become clear exactly how well they have performed as compared to us," he said.
The Prime Minister highlighted the schemes of the UPA and said that over the last 9 years average economic growth had been around 7 percent which was higher than any nine-year period in the past.
"We accept that growth has been hit by decisions not being taken on infrastructure projects. Decisions are also not being taken on account of the fact that they fear being accused of corruption," Singh said.
The Prime Minister highlighted the various legislation that had been created for the poor and other socially disadvantaged groups which he said had brought down poverty in the nation.
"The rate at which poverty has reduced has also increased," the Prime Minister said.
"I know there are different views on the poverty line among economists. But no matter how you analyse it, poverty has reduced in the country," Singh said.
He highlighted the benefit of various schemes for people living in rural areas and said that many states that were considered backward at a time were progressing quickly now. He highlighted the government's achicevements in education including the mid-day meal scheme and also spoke of institutions of higher learning that had also been set up during the UPA tenure.
Singh brushed aside criticism of rising prices that the government has been facing and said there had been there had been residual benefits.
"There has been a price rise because of rise in food prices but it has also meant that the wages of those involved in producing it has risen," Singh said.
The Prime Minister thanked Congress President Sonia Gandhi for her support during the UPA tenure.
"The commitment shown by Sonia Gandhi has benefited the government tremendously," he said.
Singh said he believed that the government hadn't got the credit for its achievements because of rising aspirations among the youth who now want more responsive and growing economic systems.
"It is no surprise that there is pressure on the government to deliver services quickly and efficiently to the people," he said.
Singh highlighted the various measures undertaken by the party to combat corruption including the Right to Information Act and the Lokpal.
"I would also like to say here that we have made mistakes but we have always tried to correct them and rectify them," the Prime Minister said.
"Our economy is facing difficulties. just slogans won't solve it...The nation needs a stable political climate," he said. "I have no doubt at all that under Rahul Gandhi's guidance we will achieve complete success," he said.
1:00 pm: Sonia Gandhi asserts that Rahul Gandhi won't be PM candidate
When it came to the crunch, Congress president Sonia Gandhi delivered, making a powerful pitch at the AICC session in Delhi's Talkatora stadium on Friday morning.
Victory and defeat are inevitable in politics, but every major change in the country has been at the behest of the Congress party, she told her forces, "do not forget that for even a moment".
Just when it was appearing that the Congress was preparing the ground for a better-timed launch for Rahul in 2016 or 2019 -- perhaps if the AAP denies the NDA an outright win as it did the BJP in the Delhi Assembly election, and a Third Front of some manner is cobbled together -- the Congress president's speech suggested that the party has not given up just yet.
The focus on the Congress's secular credentials was telling -- with the AAP government in Delhi looking to be in agonising chaos, that anybody-but-Modi vote may be worth a fighting chance.
"What is the way adopted by our chief political rival?" Sonia asked, having switched to Hindi midway through her speech. "Their way is to divide communities, to spread disharmony. There is a hidden face behind that mask of empathy."
No electoral exigencies, she continued, would hamper the Congress party's commitment to secularism. She also addressed the fact that morale of party men is perhaps at one of its lowest ebbs.
"The Congress has faced tougher times than today, we have never lost heart, we have remained resilient. We have stayed committed to our vision, our values, our beliefs."
On the clamour to end corruption, she had this to say: "The Congress is the party that enacted the Right to Information law, the "single most important reason for citizens to feel empowered to fight corruption".
The Congress president didn't attempt to deny the wave of discontent with the UPA.
"A hopeful new generation wants to be heard... be humble with those seeking change," she said. "But do not forget for a second that all major changes in the country have come through the Congress party."
She seemed to candidly tackle the prospect of another defeat too, possibly the most demoralising for Congress workers.
"Whether we win or lose, our party is the only one present in every village, every street. We have seen ups and downs, victory and defeat -- these are inevitable in politics. But I hope that in coming days our resolve to meet these challenges grows. We will win this struggle," she said.
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