Rajeev Shukla; Narendra Modi
NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader and former journalist Rajeev Shukla on Saturday recalled interviewing Narendra Modi during the prime minister’s days in the BJP organisation, noting that even then, he had brought a computer with him.Shukla said he first met Modi, who was then the BJP’s general secretary, at the residence of the late party leader Arun Jaitley and had interviewed the future Gujarat chief minister for the “Rubru” programme.“The programme was quite popular and Modi ji had come for it. It was possibly his first TV exposure. We used to meet at Jaitley ji’s residence…I saw during the interview that he had brought a small computer with him,” Shukla told ANI in an interview.He noted that Modi was a “big personality” even at that time.When asked if he had any idea that his guest would go on to become chief minister and later prime minister, the current BCCI vice president replied he did not.“I did not feel that way. In the interview, he (Narendra Modi) said he did not want to enter electoral politics and preferred organisational work. Modi ji was a man of the organisation, focused on expanding it and winning polls in different states,” Shukla stated.He added that Modi had to go to Gujarat, despite expressing his “reluctance” toward electoral politics during the interview, because of the “situation that was created.”“From there, his path opened, and he is sitting here today,” the Rajya Sabha MP remarked.Narendra Modi served as the BJP’s national secretary from 1995, overseeing the party’s activities in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.In September 2001, he received a call from then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a BJP co-founder, and replaced Keshubhai Patel as Gujarat chief minister in October. He held the post until May 2014, when he was elected prime minister, a position he continues to hold.
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