"People thought we defied their verdict and punished us"

* After the dismal performance in the elections, will your party be able to emerge as a political force again in the State?

I have never called my party a mere political party because the RJP was formed to fight the battle for various people’s issues and not only to hanker for power. Whether or not we have members in the Assembly or in Parliament, our party will keep on raising our voice for the people. Therefore, the results do not affect our agitational character atall.

* Why did your party receive such a severe drubbing?

If people had used their brains and judged the performance of our government, results would certainly have been different. Ours was the only government since Independence which took so many decisions in such a short time. But people gave more importance to their feelings. The BJP was brought to power with a two-third majority in 1995 and later it was divided and we came to power. I think people generally did not approve of it and have punished us for the same. Because people thought that they had chosen the BJP to rule and any one who defied that verdict acted against people’s wishes.

We will wait for 100 days and if this government fails in performing, we will resort to agitation. I think from May 1, 1998, on Gujarat Day, we will launch our agitation on the issue of Narmada dam if the Supreme Court does not allow to raise the height.

* Do you apprehend desertions from your rank and file?

A: Your logic of leaders coming to mefor power is not correct. Because 15 ministers had left the BJP to join me when there was no scope for us to come to power. They were unhappy with the functioning of the BJP government and gave up their coveted positions. There is no question of their going back to the BJP. You know what happened to Atmaram Patel and others who left us but the BJP shooed them off.

* Do you think there will be a repeat of 1995 as still everything is not hunky dory between the BJP’s hardliners and the moderates?

I will never try to disturb the BJP and the Congress. But, it is true that there is different treatments for Khajurias and Hajurias in the party. Khajurias are always abused. This thing may flare up in future. If the BJP collapses under its own weight, I am sorry, I cannot help it.

* Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel has warned that all charges of corruption against you will be probed?

Such allegations have become a political fashion. I have been repeatedly asking for a CBI inquiry into all thecharges against me. I am ready to face all sorts of inquiries. When they (the BJP) charged us with corruption in power purchase agreements (PPAs), I had invited leader of opposition Suresh Mehta to come to my office and examine all the files. Nothing could be found.

* One senior bureaucrat in the energy department had in writing charged that a few weeks before the notification of the election, your government in an unexplainable hurry, went ahead to help certain parties in the power sector?

Bureaucrats are in no hurry to improve the power situation in the State. My government had not floated tenders, neither had we categorised parties. Everything was done during the BJP regime. Our PPA pattern is a humbug. We should have PPAs of the Pakistan pattern. If Gujarat Electricity Board has to pay consultation fee of Rs one lakh per hour to study a PPA, I do not want such a PPA. The PPA should be very short not of 200 pages.

We wanted to give more power at the earliest, but I am sorry, the performance ofthat officer you are referring to was zero. We had set up a committee of experts to study and advice on PPAs. The final decisions was taken by the committee. Shankersinh Vaghela and Dilip Parikh ne khud nahin kar diya tha.

* Does that mean that the bureaucracy did not support you?

The vacillating stand of the Congress about support to our Government had adverse effect on the bureaucracy. Fed up with the drama of the Congress, we decided to call it a day and went to dissolve the Assembly and go for a fresh mandate. We had told officers that it is (political adjustments) none of their business. You do your job according to the rules. Believe me I never telephoned any bureaucrat in my life, neither scolded them publicly. I was so cautious about saving man-hours that during cabinet meeting days, I told all the officers not to come at 11 a.m. but at 11.45 a.m. when the meeting was over so that their precious 45 minutes are not wasted. Neither did they (officials) take any decisions nor they allowed usto take any. They virtually created deadlock for the Government for six months.

* What kind of relation do you see with the Congress in future?

I do not think in terms of a close or distant relationship with the BJP or the Congress. We will never try to split any party. By the way, if a non-legislator of any party want to cross over to us, we will not mind.

* The vote share shows that the non-BJP parties got more than the BJP’s share. Don’t you think the RJP and the Congress could have stopped the BJP from coming to power if they had fought jointly?

The BJP could have been stopped. But if the Congress wanted to do that, why did it go on destabilising our government? Their mood changes and lust for more proved detrimental for all efforts at an alliance, hence we decided to go to the people.