New Delhi, June 28: Sonia Gandhi has directed her senior aides to launch a “calibrated” offensive to counter the BJP’s campaign against Pratibha Patil.

At a meeting yesterday, the aides were told to focus on answering the charges the Opposition alliance has brought against the ruling combine’s presidential candidate without getting tangled in rhetoric.

The Congress chief’s directive came after the BJP today alleged that a women’s cooperative bank that Pratibha founded was involved in a Kargil fund fraud.

An immediate outcome of the meeting was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s defence of the UPA nominee on the sidelines of a book-release function last night.

Senior leaders Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Prithviraj Chavan and Suresh Pachauri were asked to collect from Maharashtra all documents on the allegations of nepotism, loan default and embezzlement against Pratibha, scan them and prepare replies.

As chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and several of his senior colleagues were out of the country, the party unit in Jalgaon, where Pratibha is originally from, was pressed into action and told to trace the documents that go back to the seventies.

By this evening, sources said, Das Munshi and Co. were halfway through their task after burning the midnight oil.

The sum and substance of today’s submission was that as chairperson of the women’s cooperative bank named after her, Pratibha had not sanctioned a single loan as she held the post for only a month and eight days. Once all the documents are in place and the answers prepared, the Congress is likely to release a comprehensive report on her behalf.

The party also dismissed speculation that the UPA-Left might withdraw Pratibha and put up another candidate. “I have information that the NDA candidate is very upset about his imminent defeat,” Das Munshi said. “The NDA is thinking of putting up Sushma Swaraj to make it a woman-versus-woman contest.”

The sources said Sonia’s political secretary Ahmed Patel was in touch with Left and UPA leaders to dispel doubts and answer their queries.

The Congress has decided that the murder case involving Pratibha’s brother shouldn’t be gone into. Party leaders also rejected the idea of calling a news conference for Pratibha to address.

Salary decision

A decision to double the salary of the President and the Vice-President was today deferred by the cabinet. Das Munshi said a conference of governors had suggested that their salaries be raised, too.