In his party's first rally after the announcement of poll dates, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday lashed out at the Centre for its 'weak' response to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
"Mumbai was attacked by Pakistan but what did the New Delhi government do," Modi asked.
"The government collected paper-cuttings and video footages regarding the attacks and sent a minister to the United States to whine about the attacks," Modi said.
"Should the country of 100-crore people have gone to US and cried in this manner," he asked.
Modi, who launched the BJP's campaign for the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, asked voters to elect senior party leader L K Advani as India's next prime minister.
"From this land that gave the country leaders like Lokmanya Tilak, let us pledge to make Advani the prime minister," Modi said.
Lambasting Congress over its 'lack of a credible leader for the top job in the country', Modi said "The Congress doesn't have even a single leader who is ready to accept the current prime minister as the leader of the country. How will this country run"?
"The Congress is one party which neither has a leader nor a policy," Modi added.
Modi also ridiculed Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's prime ministerial 'ambitions', saying, "Pawar has been standing on the pitch for the last 15 years, wanting to become PM. Sometimes he gets out LBW (leg before wicket) and sometimes he gets himself out."
"No leader of UPA can aspire to win the election without invoking my name at least once a day," he said, referring to his criticism by Congress leaders.
