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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh has more things to worry about
now. Although he successfully engineered splits in two rival-political
parties in order to cling to power he has perhaps more problems ahead than
the number of ministers in his cabinet. Already there have been voices of
dissent, within his party and outside, about the Cabinet. Yet, the chief
minister smiled away these problems when he spoke to Sharad Gupta Excerpts:
How do you rate your own performance during the past one month especially
in view of the upheavals in the state?
There were only ups for us. The downs were for the opposition. We only
tried to fulfil people's aspirations which are political stability, a
stable government, security for life and property, development and the
weeding out of corruption. We only had a legacy of administrative chaos.
But, my government is determined to fight corruption at the top.
Corruption flows from the top down.
Didn't you compromise the party's ideals by luring away opposition MLAs
promising them ministerial berths?
We did not promise anything to anyone. They supported us to honour people's
wishes for political stability in the State. See, no one wants elections
every year.
But by rewarding all defectors with ministerial berths, haven't you
justified the opposition charge of horse-trading?
There is not even a single case' of horse-trading. Those who indulge in
horse-trading must be wondering about the survival a government without
horse-trading. None of the MLAs dared to bargain. People used to accuse
the BJP of always fumbling near the goal. Once we have scored, we deserve
appreciation and not criticism.
Wasn't it an off-side goal?
No, no. We were on the right side and even the umpire upheld it.
Isn't it a major turnaround for the BJP? What Atal Behari Vajpayee could
not achieve in Delhi, you did in Lucknow.
The circumstances in the two cases were different. The road to Delhi's
throne begins from UP. I promised you a dhamaka in Lucknow and did it.
Don't be surprised if there is a similar explosion in Delhi too.
When?
There is no time-limit. But, once UP has shown the way, it is only a matter
of time before a similar exercise is carried out at the Centre.
How can you hope that a five-party coalition will he better than the
two-party coalition that the BSP-BJP Government was?
A two-party coalition is certainly a better proposition if the other
partner is honest. The BJP honoured its commitment despite frequently
swallowing poison to continue in the BSP Government for six months. But
they could not tolerate us even for 24 hours and started shouting against
my order on the SC/ST Act.
Isn't your jumbo cabinet the result of intense political blackmailing?
The size of the Cabinet has become a bit large only to fulfill people's
aspiration of political stability. There are two type of reactions to my
actions - class reaction and mass reaction. It's only a small class which
is accusing me of all sort of things but the masses are very happy about them.
Have you promised another cabinet expansion to accommodate more defectors
from other parties?
No, I just said there was scope for another expansion - not in anticipation
of further defections but to meet any eventuality.
There seems to be a lot of resentment within your party over the
constitution of the Cabinet?
Yes, there are some unsatisfied people and we are trying to reason it out
with them. There is no harm in voicing your concern at party fora but riot
through the media. As regards caste imbalance, there are 4,000 castes in UP
and there are only 425 MLAs in the State Assembly. Even if all the MLAs
were inducted into the ministry, they cannot represent all castes. I can
only say that my Cabinet has a socially representative character.
Why is there a difference of opinion between you and Atal Behari Vajpayee?
While you termed the BSP a "live wire", Vajpayee was still open to another
alliance with the BSP
I don't think Atalji said what has been attributed to him by the media. The
BJP is committed to the upliftment of Dalits. Just see the results of the
last Assembly and Parliamentary elections and you find that the maximum
number of Dalit MLAs and MPs have won on BJP tickets.
Your vision seems to he limited to UP Vajpayee might be hoping to seek the
BSP's cooperation to come to power at the Centre?
I want the BJP to come to power both in the State and at the Centre. But
the interest of the State which returns 85 MPs should also be taken care
of. There are two ways to expand your support base: first, through a via
media and second, through direct contact. Our two experiments to get Dalit
votes through the BSP have miserably failed, though only the BSP is
responsible for it. Dalit votes instead of reaching the BJP, remained only
with the BSP.
Isn't ordering inquiries into your predecessor's decisions an example of
vindictive politics? Especially since BJP ministers too were part of the
Cabinet which ratified these decisions?
(Agitated) No other minister but Mayawati herself is responsible for
whatever she has done. (Thumps the desk) Mayawati jimmedar hai, Mayawati
jimmedar hai, Mayawati jimmedar hai.
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