Addressing mediapersons on Friday, the senior Congress leader said that MoUs signed without taking deposits from investors had no meaning because investors could retract at any moment, as it had happened in the past. He said the move was just to fox the people.

Quoting Union Commerce Ministry figures, he said that only 16 to 17 per cent of the MoUs signed by the Gujarat government in 2003, 2005 and 2007 summits had been implemented so far.

“The public has been befooled by imaginary, unrealistic and impossible figures of MoUs by the Gujarat government,” he said, adding, “Let the government make it compulsory for investors to deposit at least one per cent amount of their MoUs with the state exchequer and see how many industrialists turn up for signing MoUs.”

Taking a dig at the industrialists projecting Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the ‘future leader of the country’, Vaghela ‘advised’ them to join the BJP, if they are so impressed by him. He said Modi was using the biennial summits to fulfil his personal political ambitions through industrialists.

“Modi simply wants to wash his crimes of 2002 by getting himself projected as the future leader of the country through industrialists,” he said. He added that Modi must know that industrialists had their own axe to grind and just wanted to curry favour with him because of their trade and business interests in the state.

Reacting to the state government’s claim that 25 lakh jobs would be generated from MoUs worth over Rs 12.5 lakh crores signed at the 2009 summit, he asked Modi to come out with a White Paper on the number of jobs created in the state since 2003, when the first summit was held.

“Not even 2.5 lakh jobs have been created in five years, and against it, the list of unemployed in employment exchanges is continuously getting longer,” he said.

Pointing out that 15 to 20 per cent of the project cost was contributed by investors, he said the remaining cost was raised from institutional finance, banking sector and public issues. With MoUs worth Rs 12.5 lakh crore signed at the summit, the industrialists could arrange Rs 2.5 lakh crore, and the remaining amount would have to be raised from other sources.

Quoting RBI figures, Vaghela said that industrial credits advanced by the banks in 2007-08 throughout the country was only Rs 1.74 lakh crore, in which case it is difficult to believe that Gujarat could get Rs 10 lakh crore worth of projects financed even over a period of several years.

No decision yet on his constituency for Lok Sabha polls

Shankersinh Vaghela, on being asked about his poll plans, said he is yet to decide if he would contest the next Lok Sabha elections from Godhra or some other constituency. During the delimitation exercise, his Kapadvanj Lok Sabha seat got split and merged with other constituencies.