Gujarat CM Narendra Modi side-steps questions on Prime Ministerial ambitions

KOLKATA: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday refused to give a straight reply to a question on his prime ministerial ambitions during an interaction with Kolkata's industry lobby. "I am not a politician. I am apolitical," Modi said when asked about his desire to become the prime minister of the country.

Modi, however, told the business lobby at a city hotel here that that the state has suffered a lot in the past 32 years due to misgovernance and said that the Centre is responsible for poor state of affairs in non-Congress ruled states.

"The central government's work machinery is at a standstill. The UPA government at the Centre is discriminating against non-Congress governments while lending funds for development," he said. Interestingly, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had made same observation on Monday before leaving Kolkata to attend the Planning Commission meeting in New Delhi.

But Modi on Tuesday went a step ahead and said that the discrimination by the Centre was adversely affecting the development in the non-Congress ruled states, and urged them to raise their voice against the step-motherly treatment being given to them.

"The state governments are divided over the Centre's discriminatory attitude and I think that West Bengal has also become a victim of the Centre's attitude towards non-Congress states. Due to this attitude by the Centre, many states like West Bengal are not being able to create wealth and grow according to their potential," the Gujrat chief minister said.

At the same time, the BJP poster boy also said that the issue of economic deprivation and neglect towards West Bengal was not raised by the then Marxist government when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of the country.

Praising Mamata's government, Modi said "the damage done to West Bengal during the past 32 year rule of the Marxists government, can not be repaired within the two year rule of a new government."