Giving back in good measure, what was thrown at him, unusually combative Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took on BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani and said, "I would not have been found weeping in the corner, when a mob of hoodlums was destroying the centuries' old mosque."
In a no-holds barred attack on the leader of the Opposition, at a press conference in Mumbai, Manmohan Singh said, "I am accountable to people as the Prime Minister of the country and since these are election times, people expect that I should reply to the accusations leveled against me, although I don't find it personally necessary to reply to such accusations which lack credibility."
Targeting Advani on the Jinnah controversy, the Prime Minister said, "I would not say things in Pakistan that offend every Indian and then abandon the stance when it becomes inconvenient for the party."
In obvious reference to the Kandahar plane hijack episode Manmohan Singh said, "The difference between the UPA government and the NDA government is that they released terrorists while we killed nine and captured one alive."
Attacking Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister asked, "How can one take credit for the development of the state when 1200 people were butchered while state administration looked in the other direction."
Singh also said that the Gujarat riots as well as the 1984 anti-Sikh riots were a "blot" on the secular image of the country.
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Replying to questions about Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi for the Prime Minister's post Manmohan Singh said, "He has all the qualities to lead the country and as the world over it is practiced, power must be handed over to younger people."
Asked whether the shoe-throwing at Home Minister P Chidambaram prompted his party to withdraw tickets to Sikh riot case accused Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, he said that there were protests against their candidature and taking this into consideration, the Congress took a decision.
To a question on why the nuclear deal was not a campaign issue for the Congress, the Prime Minister shot back, "Who said that (it is not an issue)? It is in the manifesto. What else should we do? You tell us."