Sonia Gandhi at an election rally in Delhi on Sunday. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi, Nov. 23: The Congress is jittery about Mayavati’s rise in Delhi but fears that attacking her at campaign meetings could boost her image as a serious contender.

Sonia Gandhi, requested by the party specifically to address rallies in reserved seats, where the Bahujan Samaj Party is strong, never mentioned the Uttar Pradesh chief minister today as she tore into the BJP. She made a few indirect remarks about caste-based parties but did not name the BSP, perhaps unwilling to risk putting off Mayavati’s committed Dalit voters.

Congress leaders’ faces, however, betrayed worry with Mayavati drawing a far larger crowd around roughly the same time as she addressed the first of her five scheduled rallies in the capital.

Sonia’s meeting at the Ram Lila Maidan in Mangolpuri constituency drew less than 10,000 people while double that number waited two-and-a-half hours at Trilokpuri to hear Mayavati, who arrived late.

Congress sources put up a brave face insisting the difference in turnouts would not be mirrored at the booths. “Mayavati offers curiosity value while we offer stability. We are sure people will vote for stability and prosperity,” said Purushottam Tandon, a local Congress official.

Sonia dismissed the BJP’s assurance of stability, citing how the party had three chief ministers in its last stint. “How can they assure a stable government?” she asked.

“The BJP wants power for the sake of power while we seek power to serve you,” the Congress president said.

She added: “Those who create fear in the name of religion or caste may come to power for some days. But they cannot escape the responsibility of plunging the future of the country into darkness.”

At a time the Sangh parivar has accused the government of playing politics with the Malegaon blast arrests, she said terrorists “have only one religion — to spread terror in society”. She asked every political party to ensure that terrorism was not linked to any social group.

Sonia, campaigning for urban development minister Raj Kumar Chauhan, mentioned Chandrayaan-1 and the nuclear deal and praised the Sheila Dikshit government’s work on infrastructure.