BJP president Amit Shah addressing a rally in Hisar, Haryana
BJP president Amit Shah today said the nation has got a Prime Minister who speaks after 10 years, in a sharp dig at Manmohan Singh, who headed the Congress-led coalition at the centre for two straight terms until it lost power in May.
The BJP alleges that Dr Singh failed to check corruption on his watch and has targeted him repeatedly for what they called his silence on a multitude of scams.
Campaigning in Congress-ruled Haryana, Mr Shah also targeted Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. "
Ye pehalwano ki Bhoomi hai, is Bhoomi ka mukhiya dilli ke darbar mein mujra karta hai (This is the land of strongmen. The chief of this land dances in the Delhi durbar)," he said scathingly at a rally in Hisar. The "durbar" was seen to refer to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Mr Shah also repeated a comment that was seen as a swipe at Italy-born Mrs Gandhi: "Press the lotus symbol (BJP's poll symbol) so hard that when the button is pressed in Haryana, the current is felt in Italy."
Haryana, which has been ruled by the Congress since 2005, votes for its next government on October 15. The results will be declared four days later.
The BJP has said it will not declare a chief ministerial candidate and will instead ask voters to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the national election in May, the BJP won seven of the eight parliamentary seats it contested in Haryana. The party credited its stunning victory to a wave in favour of Mr Modi, 64.
Recently, the BJP ended its three-year-old alliance with the regional Haryana Janhit Congress, led by Kuldeep Bishnoi.
The BJP co-governed Haryana with Indian National Lok Dal led by Om Prakash Chautala from 1999 to 2005.