Asking voters of Gujarat to choose between the idealogies of “fear and illusion” and “communal harmony and development,” Congress President Sonia Gandhi, on Saturday, charged the state government of betraying the trust of the people.

“There are two idealogies before you. One stands for creating fear and illusion and the other for communal harmony and development. If you want communal harmony and development, then vote for the Congress,” she said, while addressing a rally at tribal-dominated Mandvi in Surat district, ahead of the first phase of polling on December 11.

“The Congress believes in taking everybody along, in the philosophy of bhaichara and sadbhavna (brotherhood and communal harmony). Though the BJP likes to talk about development, it has no concern either for the farmers or tribals,” Gandhi noted.

“There are backlog in vacancies in government jobs for SC/STs. The State Government has closed down the forest cooperatives,” she said.

On the BJP’s criticism that during the Congress-led UPA Government, many poor have become ineligible to get concessions marked for the people below the poverty line (BPL), Ms Gandhi said that it was during the NDA regime that the BPL policy was reviewed.

“Most of the development in Gujarat was due to the policies of the previous Congress governments and the hardwork by the people of the state,” she said.