Will Rahul Gandhi turn to his mom for everything if he becomes PM, asks Amit Shah

LUCKNOW: Narendra Modi's go-to man in Uttar Pradesh Amit Shah stepped up attack on the Gandhi family on Tuesday ridiculing Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's leadership abilities at an election rally in Hathras.

"Will he turn to his mummy asking what to do if he becomes the prime minister?" Shah asked mockingly. He was taking off from where the saffron party's PM candidate's left last week: that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was impelled to campaign for Rahul because he was not running an efficient campaign.

Shah's remarks came after Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said, "In order to grab the prime minister's chair, he (Modi) has created a strange situation across the nation. He has no belief in our socio-constitutional apparatus. It makes us think whether the country will be safe in the hands of such a person."

Arriving three hours behind schedule to support the party's young candidate Rajendra Diwakar, Shah was speaking at a gathering at Bagla Inter College. "Sometimes, his mother says something, now his sister has said something. God forbid, if he becomes PM would he go back to his mummy asking what to do?"

Shah appealed to voters to maintain distance from dynastic politics and elect Modi, "a patriot and an experienced person." His comment on Rahul came hours after Priyanka Gandhi, campaigning for her mother Sonia in Rae Bareli, slammed Modi for levelling charges against her family and husband Robert Vadra.

Addressing voters, Shah , who was under the Election Commission's scanner for his alleged 'revenge' remark earlier this month, on Tuesday said,"EVM ka aisa button dabana hai kamal ke saamnne ki uska current Italy tak jaaye (press the lotus symbol on the EVM so that its current reaches Italy)."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi had made the life of the common man miserable during the Congress-led UPA's 10-year rule at the Centre, Shah further said.

He also hit out at Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party for being hand-in-glove with the Congress. Without taking the name of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shah said "Netaji" was dreaming of becoming PM at a time when his party had no presence in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal.