Gujarat did not ask for metro funding: Jaipal Reddy

Hours before the election campaigning came to an end on Friday evening, Union urban development minister, S Jaipal Reddy, speaking on the proposed metro project for Ahmedabad, said, "We can give Rs2,400 crore today for Metro if Gujarat government asks for it, but the state authorities refused our offer three years back."

Addressing the media, the senior minister soberly countered Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's efforts to singularly take credit for developmental projects like the BRTS and 108 Emergency Ambulance service. Pointing out that the Congress-led UPA government had given Rs8,000 crore to Gujarat under JNNURM, Reddy said the state government should have had the foresight to plan for Metro rail project for the city three years back itself.

"The Centre cannot impose ideas on any state. We had proposed to the Modi government three years back that Metro should be there for Ahmedabad which has a  population of more than 40 lakh. The then BJP government refused and opted for BRTS instead. If they had agreed, 50% of Metro project would have been implemented by now," Reddy said.

He said there are two ways to fund such a project — the government model where the centre and state are partners and Government of India (GoI) takes soft loans to fund the project as in the Delhi and Bangalore Metro projects. The other is the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

"But basic infrastructure in India is not commercially viable and gap funding is required. We are willing to give that, provided the government asks for it," he adds.

He highlighted the fact that Gujarat had accepted only 80 of the 730 buses offered for BRTS. "The plan is to privatise all these basic infrastructure facilities through his corporate friends," Reddy said.

The Andhra MP voiced a 'serious complaint' against the Modi government that they were propagating development claims at the cost of Centre’s funds. "Modi has only one weapon — exploiting the Hindu-Muslim divide — for political benefits," he said. However, he refused to answer questions on BJP fielding Muslim candidates in this election.

On barbs against prime minister Manmohan Singh and Commonwealth Games, Reddy said Modi's comments were uncivilised. He instead extended 'an extremely polite invitation to Modi and his cabinet to attend the closing ceremony of the CWG.'

The BJP meanwhile retorted that Gujarat is not a beggar, but the highest taxpaying state in the country. In a statement, party spokesperson IK Jadeja says the Congress should make that clear too.

"Gujarat's development is not because of Central government's funds but because of the efforts of the state government," he states.