Modi says he hasn't done anything wrong in Gujarat that the people there should throw him out.
Amid a buzz that Narendra Modi may succeed LK Advani as BJP's prime ministerial candidate, the Gujarat chief minister on Sunday downplayed the talk saying Advani will be the party's PM candidate in 2014 elections too.
"Advaniji will be our prime ministerial candidate even in 2014 elections," 58-year-old Hindutva posterboy said in an interview when asked whether he would be the next in line after Advani, a view endorsed by senior BJP leaders Arun Shourie, Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu in recent days.
Asked if he will be playing a role in national politics, Modi said, "the people of Gujarat have given me responsibility to be the chief minister. I have done nothing wrong that they should throw me out of state".
On whether BJP's strategy to attack prime minister Manmohan Singh by calling him "weak" had backfired, Modi shot back saying, "The question here is not of attack on the prime minister, the question is of devaluation of prime minister's office".
Taking a jibe at Singh, Modi asked whether the country wanted a prime minister who was nominated and "dependent on a family" or an elected one.
Modi said, "When we are talking about devaluation of prime minister's office three things are important. Does the country want elected or nominated prime minister? Should the prime minister come through democratic process or he should be selected by a dynasty?"
"And the third thing is elected prime minister has faith that people are with him while nominated prime minister has to remain dependent on a family. People of the country have to decide on these things and whether they want a strong PM or not," he said.
Asked whether he considered Singh's reply to LK Advani's allegations as a personal attack, Modi said, "These are election times, we have said what we had to say and they have said what they had to say. Now let the people decide".
Raking up the issue of the GUJCOC bill which is awaiting Centre's clearance since 2003, he said "I have met prime minister almost ten times on the issue of GUJCOC bill and each time he had told me it is still pending. This shows that the government is run by someone else."
Asked whether BJP could support Mayawati or Jayalaithaa as prime ministerial candidate of the Third Front, Modi, a three-time chief minister of Gujarat who is the BJP's star campaigner, said that the Third Front will cease to exist before the day of counting of votes.
With the BJP facing an unrelenting attack from the Congress on the Kandahar hijack episode, Modi said those who want to generate controversy over the incident should put the entire background in front of the people.
"The plane was hijacked from Nepal and taken to the land of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Those 150 Indian nationals on the aircraft were not relatives of any political leaders of the country."
"This country's media, especially electronic media, had built an atmosphere by repeatedly showing the interviews of relatives on board the plane. Their only demand was bring those people back at any cost," Modi said.
The BJP leader asked why the Congress "which wants to gain political mileage out of issue now", had not raised its objections while participating in an all-party meeting called by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajapyee on the matter.
"Why did they not say then that let the 150 people die but we should not release the terrorists?", Modi asked.
"I want to ask madam Soniaji why the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh allowed 60 naxalites to go free when they were trapped by security forces in 2005? In Charar-e-Sharif, during the Narashima Rao government when Manmohan Singh was finance minister, why did they allow five dreaded terrorists to flee when they were encircled by our armed forces?"
Modi, however, parried questions on Rahul Gandhi and her sister Priyanka who have made references to him during the campaigning.
Asked about Rahul being groomed as the future prime ministerial candidate of the Congress, he said it was an "internal matter" of that party.
"No comments," he said when asked about statements of Priyanka Gandhi, whose ire he had earned over his remarks describing the Congress as a 125-year-old 'budia' (woman) and later called the party a 'gudia' (doll).
On the poll outcome, Modi claimed, "the high voting percentage makes it clear that people want a government that can provide development and security".
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