Digvijaya questions Gujarat development model, BJP responds

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh Friday attacked the "Gujarat model of development" promoted by BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, and said the state has the highest per capita debt in the country.

The BJP contested what Digvijaya Singh said, and asserted that Modi has brought in widespread development in Gujarat.

"Gujarat government has the highest per capita debt liability, which means that every citizen of Gujarat has more debt to pay than a citizen of any other state," Digvijaya Singh said Friday.

"Would Modi acolytes please respond?" he asked.

"Yes, they would with more 'galis' (abuses). No issue. Gujarat Model of Development must come out in the public domain," the Congress general secretary said.

Digvijaya Singh quoted the Planning Commission to say that outstanding liability in Gujarat was 25.20 percent of the Gross State Domestic Product, compared to 24.13 percent in all states.

He also said that Gujarat was not among the top five states to attract foreign investment inflows. "In the state ranking of FDI inflows, of the first seven states, five are Congress-ruled. Yet people talk of the Gujarat Model of Development!," he tweeted.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Prakash Javadekar said that if Gujarat has taken loans, then it has done so for the sake of development, and there was proof to show for that.

"The issue is, after taking the loan, how much development you have in the state. In Gujarat, there is water, more water tanks constructed to provide irrigation security to farmers... All these also must be compared," Javadekar said.