2014 polls survey: 'PR con job icon' or not, it's only Modi

Bangalore, July 25:New Delhi, July 23: The CNN-IBN along with The Hindu have carried out a comprehensive nationwide opinion poll survey across the country to get an idea on how things are going to take shape in various states. The findings are based on the survey conducted by the Centre for the Society of Developing Societies in the last week of June and first week of July. Ten 'battleground' states have been selected.

[Read: Bengal poll projections, Bihar poll projections]

GUJARAT (Total seats 26)

Survey says:

Sixty-four per cent is satisfied with the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government while 23 per cent is not happy.

The satisfaction percentage is 82 per cent in case of Madhya Pradesh and 75 per cent in case of Chhattisgarh.

While 49 per cent of the overall voters in Gujarat want Modi as the prime minister, as high as 88 per cent of BJP voters in the state want him as the PM.

Nine per cent of the people of Gujarat want Amit Shah as the CM in case Modi becomes the PM while 7% wants Anandi Patel to succeed him. A staggering 61% had no response.

Fifty-one per cent of the Gujaratis vote on the issue of the party in Lok Sabha polls while 9% on the issue of prime ministerial candidate.

Experts:

Yogendra Yadav said the popularity of Modi reflected in the figures is expected but the question was over the endorsement of the Gujarat model since the BJP governments in MP and Chhattisgarh were much ahead in terms of satisfaction level.

Senior columnist Aakar Patel lauded Modi as a politician of a high calibre but also stressed that the BJP's dominance in Gujarat has been continuing since the Babri demolition days, much ahead of Modi's arrival.

Swapan Dasgupta refused to accept that there is any contradiction between any of the models, adding that each state has its own strategy of growth. He said Modi's elevation has been made possible just not on the count of his growth model but his personal charisma.

P Sainath termed Modi's publicity as the "biggest PR con job of our time". He said the data presented on the state were too exaggerated without any real scrutiny and drew analogy with Chandrababu Naidu, the former Andhra CM and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to some extent in the earlier days of his stint.

Historian Ramchandra Guha said irrespective of all questions over his governance, there is no denying that can not be overlooked in Gujarat.