'Modi ruthlessly bulldozes obstacles in the way'

'That is why he is able to deliver. That is what makes Narendra Modi, Narendra Modi,' Gujarat Minister Jay Narayan Vyas tells Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore.

Jay Narayan Vyas has won the Siddhpur assembly seat five out of the six times that he has contested it. Ironically, the only time the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate lost Siddhpur was when a saffron wave swept Gujarat in 2002 after the post-Godhra riots.

A close confidant of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Vyas, Gujarat's minister of state for health, reveals what it is like working with Narendra Modi.

You work with Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Give us Jay Narayan Vyas's impressions of working with Mr Modi.

I have had an opportunity to work with Mr Modi not only when he was the CM, but even when he was the party's general secretary and I was a member of the legislative assembly.

I have seen him from close quarters.

He is a person with a clear vision and the determination to carry through his agenda.

While doing so, he ruthlessly bulldozes the obstacles in his way. That is why he is able to deliver. That is what makes Narendra Modi, Narendra Modi.

You mean he is ruthless?

Yes, and one should be (ruthless) if you want to deliver results. And if you have an agenda, you have to be ruthless to an extent to bulldoze obstacles which might be bureaucratic, procedural or some times socio-political.

Do you see him as India's future prime minister?

I would say that he is undoubtedly a national leader, of (great) stature even today. Now it is up to the party to decide if he can be the prime ministerial candidate. It is not my job.

But he has been the party's general secretary, the organisational general secretary of the all-India BJP and a chief minister.

I think he has graduated to the stature of a national leader.

Image: BJP candidate Jay Narayan Vyas | Photograph: Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com