The Bharatiya Janata Party may not have yet declared Narendra Modi its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 poll battle but the Gujarat Chief Minister on Wednesday indicated that he was already in the race.
“On Independence Day, the country’s focus will not just be on the address at Lal Qila [in Delhi by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh] but also on the one at Lalan College” in Bhuj in Kutch district, Mr. Modi said referring to a speech he would make.
Mr. Modi holds the Independence Day function at different district headquarters every year, in a departure from the earlier practice of having it in the State capital, Gandhinagar. “His [Dr. Singh's] speech will only be big talk and hollow promises, but in our case, the stress will be on development and hope,” Mr. Modi said, addressing a youth convention in Bhuj under the banner of Vivekananda Yuva Vikas Parishad (Vivekananda Youth Development Conference) as part of State-level Independence Day celebrations.
Interestingly, Mr. Modi’s speech on Thursday has been timed for 9 a.m., an hour after the Prime Minister is scheduled to address the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort. Lalan College can accommodate a crowd of around 30,000 persons. Coming down on the Centre for its “politically biased” approach towards his State, Mr. Modi reiterated his oft-made allegation: “Though India is a democratic country based on the pillars of its strong States, the Union Government considers Gujarat an enemy State.”
The Chief Minister performed the stone-laying ceremony for 46 development works, worth Rs 304.99 crore, for the border district of Kutch.
He also inaugurated a modern veterinary hospital, constructed near Bhuj at a cost of Rs. 10 crore.
