Narendra Modi slams Rahul Gandhi, accuses him of undermining PM's authority

In a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi, BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today accused him of undermining authority of the Prime Minister and asked people to decide if the nation will be run based on the Constitution or whims of the "prince".

Addressing a rally -- his first in the capital as BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate -- he said UPA was burdened by "governments within governments" which has been affecting the overall growth and development of the country. "The pride of the Prime Minister has been brought down by his own party. Congress party Vice President has committed the sin of disrespecting the Prime Minister," he said.

Exhorting people to bring the 'dream team' of BJP to power in 2014, he asked them to throw out UPA which is "deeply entrenched" in corruption. "Today the issue is whether the country will run on the whims of the prince or on the basis of the Constitution," he said, alleging that Congress leaders were "disrespecting" the Indian Constitution, Parliament, democracy and the Cabinet.

Launching a frontal attack on UPA, he said all political allies of UPA are running individual governments because of which nation's growth and development have been severely affected. "This government is mired in corruption. Instead of finding solutions to problems, it has stopped functioning. This government is paralysed. The UPA government is immersed in Gandhi-bhakti. The Gandhi-bhakti refers to currency notes which they are collecting in tonnes," he alleged.

"Coalition governments are formed on arithmetic but run on chemistry. Till the chemistry matches, such government cannot do any public good. Though UPA coalition government is together, there is no coordination...because of which the country is not moving forward," he said.

"The country needs a dream team in 2014, not this dirty team. This government has no vision - look at all the budgets and plans, only the dates change," he added.

Attacking the Prime Minister, Modi said, "UPA coalition is headed by a sardar but is not 'asardar' (effective)." In his over an hour-long address, the BJP leader lamented that Manmohan Singh was projecting 1.2 billion-strong India as a "poor nation" before US President Barack Obama during his meeting with him yesterday. "My head bowed in shame as the Prime Minister was seen begging by projecting India as a nation of the poor. Why did he not project India as a nation with 65% of the people below 35 years of age? Is that projection of poor nation a state of the mind?" he said.

Modi said the nation has apprehensions whether he will be able to effectively take up India's concerns on cross-border terrorism and other issues during his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today in New York. He also alleged that Sharif had referred to Singh as a "village woman" during an interaction with journalists where Indian scribes were also present.

"How dare you (Sharif) address my nation's Prime Minister as a village woman? There cannot be a bigger insult of the Indian Prime Minister. We can fight with him on policies but this we will not tolerate. This nation of 1.2 billion will not tolerate its Prime Minister's insult," he said.

Modi said the country was in the grip of a "crisis" because of corruption and policy paralysis. "The nation has been gripped by crisis due to corruption.

It has not only affected the exchequer but it has also created a crisis when it came to the nation's future. "More than 60 years after Independence, as compared to India smaller countries are doing better. We are regressing instead of progressing. Youth of this country want employment but this government is unable to do so. The NDA government had provided employment to six crore people in six years, and UPA between 2004-2009 has given employment to only 27 lakh people," he said.