Mamata Banerjee held a mega opposition unity show in Kolkata earlier this month
Highlights
- Too many candidates for top job had left the parties in chaos: Amit Shah
- He said opposition alliance doesn't even know who their leader is
- Mr Shah's address in Kanpur is meant to galvanise cadre ahead of polls
If it is Monday, it will be Prime Minister Mayawati. If it is Tuesday, it must be Akhilesh Yadav. With his "prime minister of the day" jibe, Amit Shah today scorned the opposition's "gathbandhan" or alliance attempts ahead of the national election, due by May, saying too many candidates for the top job had left the parties in chaos.
"We are very clear about our PM - the NDA's choice is (Narendra) Modi-ji. What about you," the BJP president scoffed, addressing a meeting of BJP workers at Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur.
"Let me tell you how it will be if the gathbandhan comes to power," he said, and went on to list six candidates for six days.
"On Monday, it will be Behenji (BSP chief Mayawati).On Tuesday, it will be Akhilesh Yadav. On Wednesday, it will be Mamata-didi (Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee). On Thursday, it will be Sharad Pawar. On Friday it will be Deve Gowda. On Saturday it will be MK Stalin. And on Sunday, the country will go to sleep," Amit Shah said to loud cheers from his captive audience.
"They don't know who their leader is. This sort of alliance cannot make the country great. Only a person with a 56-inch chest, like Modi-ji, can take the country forward."
After Mamata Banerjee's mega opposition unity show in Kolkata earlier this month, the BJP chief had made the same point using different stats.
"There were 23 parties and nine prime ministerial candidates in that rally," Amit Shah had jeered.
Amit Shah's address to thousands of polling booth level workers at what is dubbed a "Trishakti Sammelan" is meant to galvanise cadre ahead of the national election. It is the first in a series of such BJP meetings across India's most political crucial state with 80 parliamentary seats.