The Congress Party has kicked off its campaign for elections in four states in earnest with a rousing speech by its leader Sonia Gandhi in Delhi.

Addressing a rally of the youth wing of the party inside a big indoor stadium where about 10,000 members from all over the country had gathered, Sonia Gandhi made a strong attack on the BJP-led coalition government and what she called its dismal failures in so many areas.

Sonia Gandhi became the leader of the Congress Party almost a year ago.

Can she deliver the goods?

The forthcoming elections in the capital, Delhi, and the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram will be the first test of her ability to win votes for the party.

No-one doubts her total authority over the Congress Party but equally, no-one has any idea yet whether she can deliver the goods.

Her criticism of the BJP government has become more strident as the campaign gets underway.

And her message to the Youth Congress workers at the rally was two-fold: she told the enthusiastic crowd that it was their job not just to work hard in the elections to expose the shortcomings and failures of the BJP, but also to play a part in rebuilding the nation.

Traditional values

Speaking in Hindi, Sonia Gandhi told the party's young workers that she realised that they expected to become future political leaders.

That, she said, was their legitimate ambition; but she also wanted them to restore what she called the traditional values which the party had always fostered - secularism, clean politics, social harmony and parliamentary democracy.

The elections are to be held next month. The BJP currently rules in Delhi and Rajasthan.

The mood in the Congress Party is fairly confident at the moment because in recent weeks the BJP has become increasingly unpopular.