Narendra Modi faking figures to claim Gujarat development: Congress

Congress today sought to call the bluff of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi saying his governance was a "failure" and he was faking figures to claim development when the state is lacking badly in social sectors.

Congress Communication chief Ajay Maken cited the figures of a study conducted by the Planning Commission and said Gujarat ranks 16th in health, 14th in education and 11th in infrastructure. This, he said, showed that Modi's governance was a failure.

"What is he taking credit for? Is he taking credit for low rank in social sectors like health and education?...We need to tell the truth to the people," he said.

Going on to attack Modi for claiming that Gujarat is the foremost in development, Maken said, "His governance is faulty and his publicity model is fake."

To press his point, he referred to the comments made by Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar where he has reportedly said that Modi's governance failed in 2002 during riots.

"Better he understood late than never. We have been saying this since 2002 and even Atal Behari Vajpayee had then reminded Modi of Rajdharma", Maken said taking a dig at Parrikar.

Maken also sought to dismiss the projection by a section of corporates that Gujarat was the best investment destination.

"I don't think they are right as FDI is the best indicator of ease of doing business in a state and RBI has said Gujarat was behind Maharashtra, Delhi and other Congress-ruled states despite expatriate Gujaratis being one of the richest in the world," he said.

Maken said the Planning Commission study has exposed the "falsehood" about development being propagated by Modi.

He said the study shows that top three states in health are Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. In education, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha, and in infrastructure the states are Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Odisha.

"It clearly indicates that while Gujarat has huge resources to be spent on health, education and infrastructure, it has miserably failed to do so, thereby indicating a definite mis-governance by Modi," he said.