Narendra Modi rips into Manmohan, Rahul, Digvijaya

BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi today kept up with his acerbic attack against the Congress by saying that if the party, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi want to fight the BJP, they should talk about development.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shows loyalty to a family that publicly humiliated him, said Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, on Monday.

Addressing an election rally at Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh, Modi said Singh had taken “the PM’s post to a low”.

The Gujarat chief minister was responding to Singh’s remarks during a rally on Sunday that BJP leaders had brought down the standard of political discourse in the country.

“The Prime Minister says BJP leaders have taken politics to a new low. But who has taken the Prime Minister’s post to a low?” said Modi.

“No BJP person has lowered the dignity of the PM’s office. Those sitting close to you have lowered the dignity of your office. It was your party vice-president (Rahul Gandhi) who called your decision nonsense in front of the media, not we.”

Keeping up his attack on the Congress, Modi said if Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi wanted to fight the BJP, they should talk about development.

He said the Congress lacked the courage to talk about development, because everyone knew the state of affairs in the country during the party’s reign.

Modi also spoke about the snooping scandal involving his close aide Amit Shah. The Gujarat CM said the Congress should confront him on development issues and not by levelling false allegations.

Shah, the former Gujarat minister of state for home, is alleged to have misused the state police and other surveillance machinery to illegally snoop on and stalk a young unmarried woman from Bangalore in 2009 on behalf of a mysterious “saheb”.

However, Modi claimed, “Mothers and sisters have blessed me, and I am protected against all threats.”

He also targetted Congress leader and former MP chief minister Digvijaya Singh.

“One former chief minister who speaks a lot is now engaged fulltime in manufacturing lies,” said Modi.

Modi praised Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, saying the latter had served the state by spending his every moment on its progress.

“I congratulate Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his entire team. He covered the state, went to villages and told people what he did.”

(With inputs from agencies)