In a direct attack on Manmohan Singh, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi wondered here on Tuesday how a Prime Minister “who is not even considered leader of his own party can lead the nation.”
“Even if one asks Congress workers across the country none will say that Dr. Singh is their leader,” he said at a BJP workers’ meet.
“There is a dispute in the Congress over whether there should be a single power centre or two. What are we to understand from it? How many power centres the party should have is not the issue at hand as we do not see any power there,” he said.
Never since Independence had there been so much “hatred and disgust” among people against any government as it was for the United Progressive Alliance government, Mr. Modi said, calling on the party supporters “to throw away Congress from the country.”
If one were to do an analysis of the performance of the State governments ruled by the Congress, the Communists, the BJP and regional parties, the governments ruled by the BJP would emerge as the best performers, he said.
This despite the UPA discriminating against non-Congress States and suffering from a policy paralysis, he said at another event here organised by certain chambers of commerce.
“Very soon a government will sit in Delhi which will carry all the States together,” he said.
The BJP leader, perceived to be a prime ministerial aspirant, threw the audience off balance by saying, in response to a question on his final destination as a politician that he was apolitical.
Criticising the foreign policy, he said the Centre’s silence on Bangladesh was baffling as was its handling of the case involving two Italian marines.
On the recent unrest in Bangladesh, he wondered how the Indian government could keep quiet, especially since India was so closely involved with the birth of that nation.
On the marines’ issue, he said: “What can I say about a government which releases two people who have killed our men so that they can go and vote in their country?”