•You lauded Modi for bringing the Nano project to Gujarat. More than development, is the project becoming a symbol of political one-upmanship?

It is the West Bengal Government which made a political issue of it. In Gujarat, this was brought in for the state’s development.

•While Modi has taken a very tough stand on terrorism, we saw the biggest serial blasts in the last one year happening in Gujarat. Also, there have been frequent cases of fake currency rackets surfacing here. Is this not a failure?

You cannot call these failures. Look at the way it has been tackled here. Modi has done a great job. Such an incident can take place anywhere. But what matters is how the administration handles it.

•So much is being said about the Bajrang Dal and other right wing groups, and some political parties have even demanded a ban on them. But in Gujarat, we have seen them completely sidelined and almost silenced once the pitch of development picked up. Does this mean that these outfits become redundant as the focus shifts to development?

They have not been engaged in anything destructive here. The issue is being politicised.

•Recently, we saw Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal joining the NDA. Are there more parties coming to the NDA fold?

NDA is in an expansion mode. We are also talking to some other parties and soon others will be joining the alliance.

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