BJP national president Rajnath Singh believes the UPA Government has failed on all fronts, be it security, economy or society. He suggests that terrorism and internal security issues will be at the top of BJP’s election agenda in the forthcoming general elections. Expressing surprise that terror was not on the agenda of the National Integration Council last, the former Uttar Pradesh chief Minister says: “There is not only a lack of stern will power to tackle the menace of terrorism, but I suspect that they (the UPA Government) do not have the right bent of mind for tackling terror.”

Rajnath speaks to D P Bhattacharya on Modi, the election campaign, Bajrang Dal and new NDA allies. Excerpts:

•Will Narendra Modi move to Delhi?

Narendra Modi is the Chief Minister of a state. Naturally, a CM has a national role as well. He will have a very important role to play in the forthcoming elections. As far as his moving to Delhi is concerned, it also depends on what he wants.

•How is the party planning to take Modi’s help for campaigning?

He will be one of our star campaigners and will travel extensively in the five states.

•With so much thrust on development, how do you think the ‘Gujarat Model’ will work in other states?

In terms of development, Gujarat has definitely created a successful model of its own and I give the credit for it to Narendrabhai. In other states, they have their unique characteristics and the developmental works are done keeping local needs in mind. We’ll continue to do the same.

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