Gujarat Congress leader punches holes in Modi's claims

New Delhi, Feb 13 (UNI) A top Gujarat Congress leader today sought to rubbish Chief Minister Narendra Modi's ''tall and exaggerated'' claims of phenomenal economic growth in the state under the latter's leadership, and offered to resign if Mr Modi could prove to have received the 'Rajiv Gandhi Foundation Award'.

''Mr Modi claims to have received nine awards for his government's performance. One of the awards claimed is Rajiv Gandhi Foundation Award, for which he was felicitated by various organisations,'' Mr Arjun Modhwadia, Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat assembly, told reporters here today.

''I have challenged the very existence of these awards in the assembly and dare him to show it to me. These awards just don't exist. My Challenge is still there. If the government is able to show me the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation Award, I will resign,'' said Mr Modhwadia, who wasaddressing his maiden press conference after becoming the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly.

Notwithstanding the claims of the Modi government, he said the state had been showing clear signs of ''a mismanaged economy and industrial climate''.

Taking a swipe at the Modi government for claiming the just-concluded 'Vibrant Gujarat Investors' Summit'' as an unqualified success, the Congress leader said the figures being bandied about in terms of investment commitment by industry leaders were astonishing. ''We know for a fact that many of these commitments remain only on paper and do not eventually lead to any real investment. A large number of MoUs that are signed are often unfulfilled. The heat of the moment generates favourable publicity for the state government, but a careful scrutiny reveals that there is little follow-up action.'' In the 2003 Investment Summit, he said Mr Modi had claimed MoUs for investment worth Rs 66,000 crore, but relisation was only to the tune of Rs 18,000 crore. Similarly, in the 2005 summit, actual investment was only Rs 10,000 crore though MoUs were signed for a whopping amount of Rs 1,03,000 crore.

Mr Modhwadia sought to buttress his claim by reeling out a string of statistics. Contrary to popular notions of a blazing growth rate, Gujarat managed 5.1 per cent in 2005-06, which was below the national GDP growth rate of 8.4 per cent. Between 2000 and 2004, the average figure was 6.2 per cent.

He further claimed that Gujarat is fifth highest indebted state (Rs 80,000 crore) after Uttar Pradesh (Rs 1,61,358 crore), Maharashtra (Rs 1,54,556 crore), West Bengal (Rs 6,26,226 crore) and Andhra Pradesh (Rs 91,445 crore).

Gujarat also tops the states in per capita debt with a figure of Rs 17,200, he said, adding that when the Congress left power in 1994-95, the total debt of the state was mere Rs 9044 crore.

''When Mr Modi took over as chief minister, debt was pegged at Rs 34,450 crore. Now it has gone up to Rs 80,000 crore and the state is n ow paying Rs 6907 crore as interest,'' he pointed out.

In industrial investment, Gujarat and Maharashtra used to be the traditional competitors for the top two positions, but now Gujarat had slipped to the 5th position, he said.

Quoting the CMIE Review for industrial investment (up to June 2006), Mr Modhwadia said Gujarat has been relegated to the fifth position (Rs 2,39,991 crore) by states like Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

In FDI, he said Gujarat was now at the 5th position, having attracted a modest FDI of Rs 200-250 crore during the past four years, far behind Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Even in terms of social indicators, he said Gujarat's growth had been quite worrisome. According to the 1991 Census, Gujarat was at the ninth position in literacy and it further dropped to the 15th position as per the 2001 Census.

He also alleged a highly skewed sex raio in Gujarat. '' In the age group up to six years, the gender ratio is 886 girls per 1000 boys, putting the state at an abysmal 19th position.'' UNI