On Tuesday, a combative Sonia Gandhi stepped up to marshall her Congress troops to take on the political challenge from the BJP, whom she accused of “blackmail” and of “holding Parliament to ransom” over the coal block allocation scandal. From all accounts, her chalisa chants appear to have infused some signs of life in the Congress, which had been forced on the defensive by the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s report on the coal blocks allocation.