Rattled by the projection of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial nominee, the Congress and other parties are diverting the debate from development and good governance and harping on to the 2002 Godhra riots, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu has said.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he said, “The ascendancy of Modi to prime ministerial candidacy is not because of RSS’ backing but because the people of this country see Modi as the capable leader to deliver good governance. Go by any survey or study, Modi is the most popular leader in the country today.”
Taking a dig at CPM general secretary Prakash Karat’s remark that ‘Modi’s nation-first means corporate-first’, Naidu clarified that Modi slogan would include people of this nation cutting across all castes, religions and regions. “Are corporates bad for the country? Is improvement of production not important for distribution of developmental fruits to the people?” he asked.
“Gujarat, under the leadership of Modi, is the only state maintaining a steady growth of 10 percent in agriculture and other sectors for the past ten years. People are sensible and observing the development that is taking place in Gujarat and want to replicate it at the national level by electing Narendra Modi as prime minister at the upcoming election.”
Naidu said the BJP chalked out plans for rigorous promotion of Modi and the party through social networking sites and by organising sammelans by touring various constituencies. “If one looks at the sea of people turning up at Modi’s meetings, it becomes evident that people are vexed with the Congress’ nonchalance and policy paralysis.”
He said drafting of a vision document for upcoming elections was underway under the leadership of Murli Manohar Joshi and Nitin Gadkari.