)
Targeting Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi today said nobody can save the government of the "mother and son" from "certain defeat" even as he accused them of adopting double standards by "shying" away from sharing stage with fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad.
Congress, he alleged, helped Lalu walk out of jail and indulged in all sorts of backroom deals with him but refrained from acknowledging the relation in public as they feared it would dent their votes outside.
"Is it not a fact that mother and son helped Lalu to get out of jail (on bail after being convicted for five years in the fodder scam)?" the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate asked at an election meeting here.
"Having got Lalu released from jail, why cannot they share a stage with him at a rally?" he asked.
"Does not this maa-beta have alliance with Lalu? Did not they help him come out of jail? Then why do they refuse to sit together with him... They tell him don't sit with us or we will be wiped out from the country. Isn't it a deception, a sin?," he asked as he urged voters to teach them a lesson.
He said "none can save the maa-beta (mother and son) from certain defeat.
Slamming the UPA government as "weak" and "remote controlled" by the Gandhi family, he said that a "dead" government could not do any good for the country which needed a strong government to solve complex problems through decisive leadership.
Reaching out to electorate in the crucial state, where BJP aims to make big gains to realise its dream of capturing power in the Centre, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate said Bihar was blessed with the goddess of knowledge which Gujarat lacked.
"Wherever we go, we find IAS, IPS officers from Bihar. But the goddess of wealth is yet to come here. It does not come without lotus," he said, referring to his party's symbol which is also associated with the goddess of wealth.
