The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has questioned the authenticity of the recently published Raghuram Rajan panel report that mentioned Gujarat as one of the country's less developed states.

The report put Maharashtra on the top of seven most developed states. The list of other most developed states includes Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Punjab. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Odisha Jharkhand, M. P., Rajasthan and U. P. were placed under the category of least developed states.

Narendra Modi-led Gujarat was placed among the eleven less developed states, triggering a fresh war of tongue between BJP and Congress.

Responding to the report, state BJP president Devendra Fadnavis said, "I do not know the parameters based on which the inferences were drawn. Maharashtra is among the seven most developed states. Gujarat is among the eleven Less developed. The state's growth rate is higher than Maharashtra. Rate of unemployment is less than Maharashtra."

The BJP leader also said that Gujarat didn't need any ranking as people as well investors have already ranked it the country's most developed state.

Nonetheless, the report is a hard blow to Mr. Modi, who has been glorifying Gujarat as development model ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha polls.