Narendra Modi at his rally in Kanpur (PTI photo)
told Uttar Pradesh today that not only is it imperative to "throw out the Congress," but also those "hangers-on...who have been covertly saving the UPA government's skin." He was alluding to the Samajwadi Party which rules India's most populous state.
Perhaps also to the Bahujan Samaj Party which, along with the Congress and the SP, has pushed the BJP to the number four slot in the state that it once ruled. Both the SP and the BSP provide external support to the Congress at the Centre.
Addressing around 1.5 lakh people at a rally in Kanpur, Mr Modi also made a focused attack on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh and is seen by many as the likely rival of Mr Modi for the post of prime minister in the 2014 general elections.
In what the Congress considers Rahul Gandhi's bastion, UP, Mr Modi repeatedly referred to him as "the prince," and took him on his pet election agendas like poverty alleviation and food security. "Those born with a silver spoon cannot know the pain of the poor," Mr Modi said.
Earlier, as the Gujarat Chief Minister walked up to the stage, the crowd chanted, "sher aya, sher aya (the tiger has arrived)."
He arrived just as former Chief Minister of UP Kalyan Singh had finished doing some math in his speech, reckoning that with Mr Modi in charge, the BJP is set to reprise in 2014, its 1998 performance, when it had won 57 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Currently the BJP has 10 MPs from UP, which sends 80 MPs to the 545-member Lok Sabha and has the potential to make or break Mr Modi's Delhi dream.
Party president Rajnath Singh, also a former UP chief minister acknowledged as much. "Till we have the blessings of the people of UP, we can't change the future of India," he said.
Early this year, Mr Modi's right hand man and canny planner Amit Shah was handed the mammoth task of re-energising a moribund party in UP. Both his event planning and organizational skills were on display in Kanpur today.