Chief Minister? Not me

DECEMBER 10: Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar is among the leaders tipped to replace Rabri Devi if the BJP-Samata Party alliance wins the...

DECEMBER 10: Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar is among the leaders tipped to replace Rabri Devi if the BJP-Samata Party alliance wins the forthcoming Assembly elections in Bihar. Once known for his proximity to Laloo Prasad Yadav 8212; both of them are products of Jayaprakash Narayan8217;s movement he is now a bitter critic of the RJD chief. He formed the Samata Party in 1994 after he fell out with Laloo. The 48-year-old Union minister spoke to DEVESH KUMAR on the day he was shifted to the new ministry.

Why were you shifted from the Surface Transport Ministry?
I was entrusted with the additional charge of surface transport even when I was Railways minister in the previous government. Still, it is the Prime Minister8217;s prerogative to assign ministries. I never lobbied for any particular ministry.

What about the problems within the Janata Dal United? Why hasn8217;t the merger of Samata Party, Janata Dal and Lok Shakti not taken place yet?
We are committed to the merger, although notime-frame has been fixed as yet. The three parties are already unified. After all, we fought the last election together on a common symbol.
The extended meeting of the state executive of the Samata Party was held at Patna last Saturday. While the merger proposal was accepted, it was left to George Fernandes and me to work out the modalities.
The view that the Samata Party should go it alone was expressed at the meeting, rather than merging with the other two parties. But this was an emotional reaction and we persuaded the prime movers of this view to accept the proposal.
The formal merger has to be endorsed by the national councils of the three parties. As far as organising its structure is concerned, steering committees have already been formed at the central and state levels. However, nothing has been done at the district and block levels. When the merger does eventually take place, we8217;ll have to build the entire organisation from top to bottom.

Why wasn8217;t Ramakrishna Hegde inducted into theUnion Cabinet? Is he still keen on the merger?
Hegde8217;s exclusion is an old issue now. It is true that he is deeply upset, but we8217;re sure he will not back out on the merger issue.
JDU leaders who are part of the Union Council of Ministers are finding it difficult to find time to complete the formalities of the merger. But a steering committee has been formed. We have already held a meeting.
Everyone will have to work together in view of the Assembly poll in Bihar, which is round the corner. The process has already started, and a formal merger will take place in due course.

The Samata Party had initially called upon the Biju Janata Dal to join hands with it. Why did they refuse?
They were not interested in the offer as they wanted to retain their regional identity. Many Janata Dal leaders flocked to the BJD recently. The Samata Party has a unit in Orissa. We will have to devise a strategy 8212; whether to fight it alone or to go in for an alliance on the forthcoming Assembly elections.We have not discussed the issue yet.

How are the Samata Party8217;s relations with the BJP in Bihar? The latter recently announced that they would contest 200 out of 324 seats in the state.
The BJP8217;s announcement was discussed in the Samata Party8217;s state executive. We8217;d like the BJP to initiate an exercise for identifying candidates for all the 324 seats. We8217;ll also do the same. When a proper understanding between the two parties is reached, a seat-sharing arrangement for all the seats will be arrived at. We have not initiated discussions on the matter yet. There will not be much of a problem in sorting it out.
We have asked the district-level committees to prepare a list of candidates. In the state executive committee meeting, there was a proposal to contest the majority of the seats in the state. It is natural for parties to stake such claims. In any case, it is too early to discuss things with the BJP.

After the results for the four Lok Sabha seats were announced, the BJP alleged that theylost Purnea, Bhagalpur and Rajmahal because of the lack of coordination with the JDU. How do you react?
It is true that the level of coordination between the BJP and the JDU was not as good as it was in 1996 or 1998. Their approach was selective. They used to speak to individual leaders. There were no consultations on a party-to-party basis. The spirit of a joint campaign was missing this time round.
In our election advertisements, we eulogised the National Democratic Alliance and Atal Behari Vajpayee. But there was no such effort from their side. There was no mention of the NDA in their ads.
I was the chairman of the coordination committee in Bihar, but there were no party-to-party talks. But despite this, I went to Bhagalpur to canvass for the BJP candidate. There was co-ordination between the activists of the two parties at the lower levels, but it was missing at the top.

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Are you a candidate for the Chief Minister8217;s post?
No, not at all.

Will the alliance project anyone asthe Chief Ministerial candidate?
There is no need to project anyone as the CM. It will prove to be counter-productive. The effort should be to win the elections first.

What is your party8217;s stand on Vananchal?
The Samata Party is committed to the creation of Jharkhand. But the economic viability of the rest of the state should be considered. The Centre should give adequate financial assistance to develop infrastructure and other facilities.

The Samata Party has alleged that it was not consulted by the Centre before appointing the Bihar Governor.
To my knowledge, there were no consultations. But Vinod Pande is a non-controversial person. There can be no questions about his integrity and honesty.