UPA govt 'remote controlled': Modi

Narendra Modi today dubbed the UPA government as "remote controlled" and "lame" as he raised the pitch for a strong and stable government at the Centre.

Addressing a rally here, Modi painted a gloomy picture for the Congress-led UPA, claiming it would not be able to open its account in seats in several states and in many others, it would end up with a single digit.

"I ask you all people what type of government do you want in India? Do you want a government in Delhi, a lame government? Do you want a dumb government? Do you want remote-controlled government. Do you want a government which is lying dead in a hospital?," Modi posed to the gathering.

In a trenchant attack on the UPA, he also asked, "Do you want a government which divides the country. Do you want a government which breaks promises. Do you want a government which destroys the future of the country's youth?."

Union Minister M Veerappa Moily is pitted against former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, son of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, from Chikkaballapur, where former Minister Bacche Gowda is the BJP candidate.

"It is the need of the hour that we need a strong government in Delhi. If we have a strong government at the Centre we will have a strong determination. If there is strong government, then we will take strong steps. If we take strong steps, then the country also will become strong," Modi said.

Modi also said "there are many states where the Congress will not open its account. There will be no state where the Congress party will even reach double digit. This time Congress ruled states will end up in single digit."

The BJP's prime ministerial candidate's "remote control" jibe comes days after a book written by Sanjaya Baru, former media adviser to PM, stating that Sonia Gandhi was the remote control in UPA Government and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh played a second fiddle to her. Taking on Moily who holds the petroleum portfolio, Modi said, "You made the people count cylinders - whether (to increase the cap to) nine or eleven."

"Moilyji your five years elapsed in family worshipping. You haven't done anything good to your department and your constituency, except doing good to (a family living at) 10 Janpath," he said, an apparent reference to the Gandhi family.

"Whatever problems you are facing, the same is being faced by the whole of the country. This problem is due to Indian government's chaotic rule," he told the gathering.

He also referred to the local problems like the ones faced by the silk industry, for which Chikkaballapur is known, and also water scarcity.

Modi blamed the silk industry related problems on Union Government's import and export policy.

"Moilyji you are sitting in Delhi. The industry is being hit in your constituency. People's lives have been ruined and youth are getting unemployed. At least you could have done something."

He said Atal Bihari Vajpayee had seen a dream of linking the rivers. "If we don't join the rivers then the nature will not forgive us,", he said, seeking to strike chord with the people hit by perennial drinking water problem.