PM is not allowed to speak in Delhi, says Narendra Modi

"You are at least fortunate that he at least came and spoke. In Delhi, the poor man is not allowed to speak anything", Gujarat Chief Minister told a public rally here, taunting the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"It's very difficult for him to speak in Delhi. It is because he came out of Delhi that he was able to speak. He has to speak only what's given to him in writing", Modi said referring to two public meetings addressed earlier this week by Singh ahead of May 5 Assembly elections in Karnataka.

"What state these people have reduced the Prime Minister to. He has been under such a siege, such is the stranglehold that he becomes silent", Modi said.

Slamming the Prime Minister for raising the electricity shortage issue in Karnataka, he alleged that the Congress-led UPA was responsible for the power crisis in the country.

Modi said power plants with a capacity of 30,000 MW, including more than 2000 mw in Gujarat, are shut in the country because of lack of coal supplies and "policy paralysis".

Instead of focusing on power generation, the Prime Minister was busy in building big airports, "flying aircraft" and "serving big people (industrialists)".

As Gujarat is on the path of rapid development, the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre is treating the BJP government at the state level as an "enemy", he alleged.

Modi charged the UPA with slapping IT notices on investors who had come to attend "Vibrant Gujarat" event aimed to wooing investment to generate employment, adding, "political untouchability has become a trait of Congress".