`Helpless’ Gujral seeks support in battle against graft

“Corruption, I say with great regret and pain, has seeped into the veins of this nation. It is not only those who are in ministerial positions who are corrupt. Of course they are and something drastic has to be done about them,” he said without naming anybody and added “but the main point is that people in the street suffer.”

Calling for “popular resistance” to corruption, Gujral said while there would be no let up on the culprits, “Let us understand that the police organisations are not what you call `doodh ke dhoye hue‘ (as pure as milk). So those through whom you are trying to contain this also have their difficulties.”

Referring to his meeting the public every Friday, Gujral said, “I feel very hurt when somebody tells me `I want an electricity connection but they want money.’ Ultimately the nation believes that nothing can be done without corruption.”

Stating that he would consider reshuffling of portfolios, Gujral said, “Now with experience, I am learning which minister is fit for which portfolio and whether performance is taking place or not,” he said.

“So gradually I will change it (portfolios). But it is not my style to start making sensations or creating ripples,” the Prime Minister said.

On the proposed hike in petroleum product prices, he said the oil price hike was “inevitable”.

“The main point is that when oil prices are increased, which we have to inevitably do, people must understand the logic of it,” he said.

Gujral said he was running the same coalition arrangement as his predecessor, H D Deve Gowda and added that “Collegium was an essential part of the coalition system. I am leading a government of 15 parties. My major support base is from those who are not in the government. This is a very difficult process,” Gujral said.

“It was not Deve Gowda’s government. It was a coalition government where all the coalition partners had nominated their representatives.”

On the resignation of Bhabani Sengupta, who was appointed officer on special duty after he took over as the PM, he said, “To me, democratic functioning when you are holding responsible positions is not to be, as they say in Punjabi – arriyal or ziddi” (obstinate).

“I don’t want to prove a point. I want to see that I can carry the people with me. If one or two things irk somebody, whether rightly or wrongly, and if I do not find it possible to persuade him, then it is better to backtrack,” the prime minister said philosophically.