NEW DELHI: India’s Narendra Modi latched Sunday onto a new tell-all book that alleges current Premier Manmohan Singh was a powerless puppet during his years at the top.

The book, written by a former media adviser to Singh, hit the bookstores this weekend and hands ammunition to Modi’s Hindu nationalist opposition during a bitter, marathon election campaign under way.

Sanjay Baru’s book “The Accidental Prime Minister” portrays Singh as subservient to ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi who called the shots although she holds no official government position.

Modi, who has campaigned on a platform of being a strong, decisive leader who can turn around the flagging economy, brought up the book while campaigning in the south, calling the government “remote-controlled.”

“I ask you all, people, what type of government do you want in India? Do you want a government in Delhi, a lame government? Do you want a dumb government? Do you want remote-controlled government?” he said at a rally in the town of Chikkaballapur.

“Two days ago a book has come out, an official who used to work in the Manmohan Singh government and his confidant has written this book. He has said this government is not being run by Manmohan Singh Ji (a Hindu phrase of respect),” Modi told another rally in Haveri.