PM 'day-dreaming' about returning to power: BJP

NEW DELHI: Hitting back, BJP today rubbished as "day dream" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's hopes of retaining power in 2014 and said he is free to live under this "misconception".

Asked for his response to Singh's attack on BJP and its senior leader L K Advani, party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, "We reject his statement."

In his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address, Singh had said yesterday in the Lok Sabha that BJP had used the India Shining slogan in 2004 and fielded "Iron man" Advani "against the lamb that Manmohan Singh is".

He claimed the NDA lost in 2004 and 2009 and UPA will retain power in 2014 as well.

The combative stance of the soft-spoken PM had taken the BJP by surprise but the party dismissed his claim of handing down another defeat to the NDA in the next elections.

"We have not stopped him from day-dreaming. If he wants to live under a misconception, he can do so," Javadekar said.

Projecting Advani as an Ironman like Sardar Patel, BJP had run its election campaign in 2009 against Congress and Manmohan Singh on the planks of terrorism and strong leadership.

Singh had then punctured this campaign by raising the Kandahar hijack issue- in which the NDA government had swapped terrorists to free Indians held hostage in hijacked IC-814 plane.