PM kin's reaction means claims in books are true: Modi (Lead)

Bhagalpur (Bihar)/Hazaribagh (Jharkhand), April 15 (IANS) BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Tuesday said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's daughter's reaction to a book which questioned her father's authority as the head of the government proves that the contents of the book are true.

"If the PM's daughter is saying that it was betrayal, then it means that the prime minister's family believes that the contents of the book are true," Modi said in his rally in Bhagalpur.

Upinder Singh, daughter of the prime minister, has criticised the book written by her father's former media advisor Sanjaya Baru and termed it a betrayal of trust and a stab in the back.

Earlier in the day, Modi, at a rally in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh, regretted attacking Manmohan Singh but continued to target Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son and vice president Rahul Gandhi.

"Sometimes I used strong words against Manmohan Singh. After some books were released (recently), I felt I should not have targeted Manmohan Singh as the mother and son were responsible for everything," said Modi referring to the Congress leaders.

"Sometimes the daughter and son-in-law were responsible, and everything was taking place under the leadership of the mother," Modi said, referring to Sonia Gandhi.

But Modi launched a tirade against Rahul Gandhi over his allegation that Modi's Gujarat government gave away land to corporate houses at a rate for which one could buy toffee - Re.1.

Rahul Gandhi also compared the Gujarat model of development to an inflated balloon.

Modi said Tuesday: "Will the country choose a person who wants to play with balloon and craves for toffee?"

"I thought this election will be fought on serious issues. On one side are a galaxy of leaders in the BJP like L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manmohar Joshi and on the other side is a player who is still behaving like a child."

"For 10 days, (the word) balloon was on his lip. Now he speaks about toffee."

Modi was in Hazaribagh to address a rally in favour of party candidate Jayant Sinha, the son of former central minister Yashwant Sinha.

Modi also detailed the achievements of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government of 1998-2004.

He came down heavily on the UPA for keeping the NTPC power project in Jharkhand pending.

He urged youths to vote for the BJP for a better future and promised farmers that the minimum support price of food grain would be raised to 50 percent of the input.

"Those in the age group of 18 to 28 years need jobs, they want to earn livelihood and feed their families. They can't afford to waste five more years by electing a wrong government," Modi said.