For NRIs, Jayalalithaa is the best PM contender

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa is the most qualified to become India's next prime minister, followed closely by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, a survey conducted among NRIs and released here Wednesday has revealed.

With a score of 86 out of 100, Jayalalithaa ruled the roost and Modi got 81 marks.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi came in third with a score of 53 while other leaders like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and BJP leader L.K. Advani could not even secure the basic score to enter the survey.

"We asked 10 basic questions to shortlist the contenders and only Modi, Jayalalithaa and Rahul Gandhi were able to secure the basic score to enter the survey," Pon Mohaideen Pitchai, a non-resident Indian (NRI) and one of the researchers told IANS.

Around 5,000 NRIs from eight countries including Saudi Arabia, Australia, Britain, Canada and Singapore were interviewed for the "NRI Political research Report" and evaluated the leaders on 10 criterions like education, experience, mass support, world network and leadership skills.

The 2002 communal riots in Gujarat and the internal bickering of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over Modi seemed to affect the opinions of the NRIs too as Modi lost out to Jayalalithaa in areas like faith in secular democracy and party influence.

"She (Jayalalithaa) has an influence over her part whereas it's the other way round when it comes to Modi. Not everyone in his party supports his PM dream," said Pitchai.