Scindia, who arrived here on Thursday evening on way to his election tour to the State for a few hours, was talking to newsmen. He said mere expressing regret by Vajpayee over the remarks of the two was not enough as their remarks against Sonia evoked nation wide protests.

Ridiculing the foreign origin, Scindia said the nationality of Sonia's was a non-issue as there was no any such provision in the Indian Constitution that once the citizenship awarded to any person, he would be treated as first class or second class citizen of India. One could not imagine how much pain Sonia had to bear after the demise of her husband Rajiv Gandhi and her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi, he said,pointing out ``She is very much a bahu of India and has made personal sacrifices for this country.''

When asked what impact Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) would have on the elections, Scindia said those who have left the party, entertained the belief that they had become strong. However, people have showed that they have always supported Congress, he claimed.

Replying to a question, he said the situation this time was very much in favour of Congress in the country and predicted that his party would gain absolute majority in both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. Terming the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as an opportunist and dangerous alliance of 22 parties, the Congress leader said BJP has kept aside all its programmes and formed group with the intention to capture power.

Answering another question, he alleged that the law and order situation in the State was deteriorating, people were fed up and general administration of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government has totallycollapsed.