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Senior Janata Dal leader and former Orissa Chief Minister Biju
Patnaik has termed the United Front Government "a cluster of
lobsters fighting against each other" and "I personally think it
will be unfortunate to call him (Deve Gowda) the Prime Minister".
He said the Government would perform much better" if the Congress
party and the CPI (M), both supporting the Government from outside,
join the Government.
He said he would like the Congress to "give it stability and force
not only for five years but for the next five years also".
In an interview to Home TV to be telecast on Monday, Patnaik said:
"When you talk of the UF Government it is really trying to unite 13
pieces of live lobsters, very live lobsters, very active lobsters,
in one pot and man trying to hold that in balance and that is Deve
Gowda's fortune or misfortune".
The constituents in the meetings of the steering committee, "fight
among themselves, fight against their policies already established
by themselves and this creates difficulties", he affirmed.
Patnaik said the coalition partners were "behaving somewhat
immaturely" and gave them "five marks out of ten" for performance.
He was particularly critical of CPI general secretary A B Bardhan,
pointing out that the West Bengal Government had "allowed and
entertained MNCs", and said: "So, what is this Bardhan talking
about that this should happen or that should not happen? It makes
no sense". He accused the CPI general secretary of "posturing" and
said "you can not take him (Bardhan) seriously in terms of
Government.
Several times, Patnaik said, it was "unfortunate" that the members
of the UF were making known their differences in public in a bid to
"appeal to their own clientele - their voters', and that was
creating "a lot of concern in the people".
He specifically decried the holding of protests and agitations
against the policies of the UF Government by the CPI and the CPI
(M).
"This is the character of the lobster. It thinks of its own
clientele".
However, Patnaik said the Government will "hold firm" because, as
he put it, "power always holds people together. Politics is
nothing but self-interest to start with and national interest
number two", he added.
When asked whether he thought Deve Gowda would continue as Prime
Minister in the event of the Congress and the CPM joining the
Government he replied: "He could be or jointly they could select a
Prime Minister.
"But remember it won't be a leader. There can be no leader under
these circumstances who can sway the nation. Only events can sway
the nation".
He said the initial choice of the UF for Prime Minister, Jyoti
Basu, "would have been more colourful", but doubted that he would
have been "more any more effective than Gowda given the nature of
the coalition. "He (Basu) would have been fighting with his own
party on one side and with the others on the other side", Patnaik
predicted.
He, however, said the Prime Minister, for all his faults, had shown
some signs of leadership "take the case of Kashmir. He encouraged
it, sponsored it and saw that Farooq Abdullah comes to power. That
is good leadership", he said.
He also doubted if the A B Vajpayee, would have made a better Prime
Minister, "Vajpayee is very good in making speeches. But I have
seen him in action. He was in the cabinet with me. He was also
tottering away when a critical time comes", he said.
He said Home Minister Indrajit Gupta has told he that "he needed a
little time to adjust to this method of Government. I have never
been in a Government", when Patnaik questioned the Home Minister on
his repeated indiscretions.
Speaking about the Kashmir situation, Patnaik strenously supported
the position taken by Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah that the
present line of control' should be accepted as the de jure border.
He revealed that he had discussed the matter with the Prime
Minister and said the Prime Minister quietly heard him out. "The
Prime Minister was not against it by, any means. He has not said
one word against what Farooq Abdullah said or I said".
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