GANDHINAGAR: Narendra Modi has become the longest serving Chief Minister of Gujarat. On Friday, he completed 2,063 days in office, surpassing Hitendra Desai's record of 2,062 uninterrupted days in the early 1970s.

Mr. Desai, who for a short tenure was also a member of the Union Cabinet headed by Indira Gandhi, was the third Chief Minister since the inception of the State in May 1960, while Mr. Modi, who took assumed office on October 7, 2001, is the 14th Chief Minister.

Milestones

An official spokesman claimed here that during Mr. Modi's 68-month rule, the State had achieved many important milestones, the biggest being economic stability.

Pointing out that when Mr. Modi took over the reins from Keshubhai Patel, Gujarat was reeling under the impact of the January 2001 killer cyclone, the spokesman said the present incumbent wiped out deficits and stopped the practice of taking overdrafts.

His critics, however, disagree. Opposition to the Modi administration is being voiced even from within the ruling BJP with at least one MP, Somabhai Patel, and an MLA, Dhirubhai Gajera, publicly protesting against it.

They said the government failed to arrest the persons who raped and murdered two Koli girls in Junagadh last month, and the law and order situation was deteriorating. Under the Modi rule, no citizen except "one person" was "safe." The police, while being inactive in stopping crimes against common citizens, were busy "spotting terrorists and killing them in encounters," said Mr. Gajera.

Mr. Patel, while giving credit to leaders such Mr. Keshubhai Patel, Kashiram Rana and Shankarsinh Waghela, now in the Congress, for building up the BJP in the State, said Mr. Modi "usurped power" and had no concern for the common man.

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