We8217;ve differences but Laloo is our common enemy8217;

How can you be so sure when there are so many rebel candidates who have taken on the official NDA nominees?
Yes, thereare rebels. But as we go ahead with our campaign you can be rest assured that even their close followers will desert them. Initially, there was indeed some confusion. When the water is stagnant, you can create ripples by throwing a stone. You can8217;t do that in a running stream.

But why hasn8217;t the NDA8217;s joint campaign not really taken off?
There is immense pressure on all of us from our own party candidates to visit their constituencies. You can visit a few seats where the allies are contesting but it is not feasible for leaders of different parties to keep moving together. But a joint campaign can still take place in constituencies which will go to poll in the second phase. In the recent Lok Sabha polls, there were only two parties, the JD U and BJP. Now there is the Samata Party and the Bihar People8217;s Party as well which makes co-ordination difficult.

What about the tensions between the JD U and Samata? Why haven8217;t you been able to resolve your differences?
I concede there is sometension. Our two parties had become one but fell apart soon. But Laloo is our common enemy and so the gap between us will get bridged as the campaign goes by. After all, nobody wants anyone of us to do anything which can help Laloo. There is no option 8230; each seat is valuable for us.

What do you have to say about the question of chief ministership ? Why has it become the talking point of the elections?
All this talk about chief ministership has been fanned by the RJD. It is Laloo8217;s game. The NDA is not serious about it.

Then why do you keep saying at every meeting that the NDA has no problems on this score ?
But it has become an issue for the media. So I have to keep clarifying the position.

Why didn8217;t the NDA project anybody as chief minister?
It is an advantage if we don8217;t project anybody. When there are four parties in our alliance it won8217;t be right for us to do so in the absence of an agreement on any name.

How do you react to the perception in some quarters thatan NDA government will not last long because of pulls and pressures of coalition politics?
I don8217;t agree with this view. We have a strong coalition government at the Centre. If the Centre is strong so will the State be.

You have reiterated time and again that you are not an aspirant for the top job. Why?
Whenever we compare Bihar with other States, I feel sad, angry. But my temperament does not jell with State politics. Of course, as far as Bihar8217;s development is concerned, I will do my best. But chief ministership has never been in my mind from the beginning.

How do you view the emerging axis between the mutually antagonistic upper castes and Dalits since the recent Lok Sabha elections?
It doesn8217;t surprise me at all. The wheel of history is dynamic. After power was transferred from the upper castes to the backwards, the new ruling class began to suppress the extremely backward sections. These sections were subjected to much more humiliation than what they had to suffer at thehands of the upper castes. Now they no longer see any conflict with their erstwhile oppressors. For them, it is not a question of secularism or communalism but one of sheer survival.