, chairman of Narayana Health, runs one of the leading hospital chains in India with 7,000 beds across 27 hospitals. His roadmap involves ramping up the capacity to 30,000 beds that includes a 5,000-bed health city in Ahmedabad. In an interview with ET's KR Balasubramanyam, Dr Shetty minces no words to criticise programmes like NREGA or giving rice at Rs 1 per kg to the poor. He heaps praises on BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi , who he feels “has a very clear vision on how this country should be run.” Edited excerpts:I think this is the most exciting election ever fought because we are choosing the prime minister rather than the political party this time. AAP has a great ideology . But then like any other ideology, it has to get translated into reality. It is still in an embryonic stage, but I am sure it will mature and become an important part of the political system. They have woken up a lot of politicians. I am a great admirer of Kejriwal, but I need to wait for them to deliver. Having aspirations is one thing. Even I have a lot of aspirations to change the way the country is run. But he has taken the plunge. I am sure he will be an important person in the political delivery system.Nandan has been a friend of mine for a long time. I admire his work in Infosys, in Aadhaar and his charitable work. But if you ask me whether I would like to join politics, never. I am happy with what I am doing.I don't belong to any political party. But I am a great admirer of Narendra Modi. He is one man who has very clear ideas about how things should be. I have been watching him for many years. We built a hospital in Ahmedabad only because of him. I think he has got everything going to be a very strong leader. But, then, I also know many political leaders in the Congress . This country has a great future with all these great leaders.People have to change with changing times. We can't glorify poverty. Poverty is a curse, and any ideology based on directly giving money to the poor rather than building their infrastructure and their support system is unsustainable. I think attention should be paid to make the country wealthy. I would like the government to offer them (the poor) skills with which they can earn a living with dignity. No poor man wants sops from the government. The government may have the satisfaction that they are giving all these things free. But how long can they give it free. Who is giving that money? It is us, taxpayers.The day the government feels that poverty can be eliminated by giving rice at Rs 1 a kg or giving money without work (NREGA), we are in for big trouble. All these sops to please the vote bank will put you in serious trouble. We need investments from foreign investors . We look at foreign investment as something not good for the economy. But when the country wants to create large infrastructure, Indian investors do not have that kind of money. We have to get foreign investment. They will put money if you have a strong regulatory system in place. Unfortunately, we don't have that. We have spooked all overseas investors who could have invested huge amounts. I look at all political manifestos. How many of them are talking about creating jobs as their priority? Our threat is not going to be external aggression; our country will be ruined by unemployment.I am not a follower of the Congress or the BJP, but I am a fan of Modi. I feel that if he is empowered in today's context, if there is one person who can set things right, it is him, Modi.I have seen him deliver, make things happened in Ahmedabad in the last five years... the way he has transformed Gujarat. First of all, Gujarat is a very progressive, educated state. In terms of his (Modi's ) commitment to change things in a very, very affirmative manner, I believe that he has the capability.He is a grass-root level worker; he knows the pulse of the people and knows how to get the best out of the bureaucrats. So, he makes sure they stick to his commitments . In my experience, he is ruthlessly honest. I really don't expect more than that. He has a very clear vision on how this country should be run. I have interacted with him one-on-one as I have known him for more than 6-7 years. It is not an inference drawn by what the media says. These are my conclusions from my interaction with him.I approached him saying I wanted to build a hospital in Ahmedabad. He said it is a great thought. Then one day I got a call saying Modi is visiting us. He came here (to Bangalore), he spent more than three hours in the campus. Within a week, I was called for a meeting (to Gujarat) and asked to identify the land. In less than a month, we had a large plot of land in the heart of Ahmedabad. We have built a 300-bed hospital there, but we want to create a 5,000-bed health city there complete with medical, para-medical , nursing schools etc. It is a large investment over a period of 10 years. The government there is very supportive.Whichever political party comes to power, they must first restore the confidence of overseas investors. Irrespective of what any politician wants to do in the country, they can't do it without money. This country does not have money to build infrastructure. We need foreign funding.The thing (rule) that education activity can be run only by a trust and not by a company is ridiculous. We know that whether it is a trust or a company, your ideology and the way of functioning is the same. We are making a mockery of the situation. It costs Rs 250 to Rs 300 crore to build a medical college. How many people in a clean and transparent manner have kept Rs 300 crore in a trust which will be utilised for medical education and written off. I want to know the name of one person.Yes. Companies should be allowed to build medical colleges so that there is competition. In the end, when the student has to decide, he decides not on the basis of whether the college is run by a trust or a company, but based on the quality of education and the price (fee) he has to pay. Without profit, you cannot run any enterprise today.Today, we are short of one million doctors, two million nurses, three million beds. First, we need to have 500 new medical colleges. The government should build these colleges in the north and eastern India. If private enterprises come in, the cost of medical education will be very high... children from poor families cannot become doctors. Today, less than 5% of graduate doctors get post-graduate education. It has to be 100%. We have to increase the number of PG seats so that any young person joining a medical college is assured of a PG seat so that children from poor families can also become specialist doctors.