• Do you think that with the pro-Sonia vote being 145 seats (Congress seats), the anti-Sonia vote being 186 (NDA seats) and remaining being neutral, can it be said that she got a direct mandate from people to become the prime minister? — Sukanya Ghosh The Congress party has got 145 seats and together with allies 217. So the people have not given a clear mandate to Sonia and her allies. It was a fractured mandate. Moreover the Congress party under the leadership of its President did not do well in most of the states. It has not got even a single seat in Kerala and was rejected in states like Karnataka, Punjab, Uttaranchal, Maharashtra, where it is in power, and lost miserably in BJP-ruled states like MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. • Isn’t it barbaric on the part of Sushma Swaraj to announce that she would resign her post (which is against the oath taken by an MP), wear a white sari and shave her head? How then do you justify that this is a ‘‘dignified’’ debate? — Gautham Kumar J I don’t agree that Sushma Swaraj’s decision to resign was barbaric. She felt strongly and expressed her feelings in the way many Indians felt. But with regard to the other decision, it was purely personal. There was no mandate for the Congress president to become PM. After all they won only 145 seats out of 543. Neither the Congress nor its allies ever projected her as a prime ministerial candidate. The nation was concerned about a person of foreign origin occupying the highest post. Sushma gave expression to the feelings of the people, nothing unconstitutional. • Mr Naidu, why is it that the BJP is taking so much time to accept the mandate of the people? Will India stop shining if the Congress party leads our country? An effective political opponent does not oppose on frivolous issues (on the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi). — Varsha Pillai The BJP took no time to humbly accept the verdict of the people. In fact, we accepted it on the 13th afternoon itself, even when final results were not announced. George Fernandes and I declared the same afternoon that we will sit in the opposition. According to us and millions of countrymen, the foreign origin issue is not a frivolous issue. And I do not agree that ours was an unprecedented defeat as the Congress got only seven seats more than us. • Why are you afraid of Sonia? If Mahendra Chaudhary can be the Fiji President, why can’t she be PM? — Mohammed Shoaaib Our opposition to Soniaji becoming Prime Minister is not personal. It is to do with the national interest of the country. Though Mahendra Chaudhary was Fiji national by birth, you know what has happened to him. We are not afraid of any individual. It is our conviction that only Indian nationals should occupy high offices. • The BJP won elections in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh on development agenda and on the same premise went for polls.Now, after the defeat, what will be the thrust area and how will the monitoring of administration/schemes be done in these states? — Prashant Arya Yes the BJP won elections in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh on development agenda and we projected the same in the Lok Sabha elections but could not get the mandate of the people. Now, after analysis, we feel that we not only need development agenda, but also need to project the negatives of the other side. We will focus on development and good governance in states that are rules by the BJP and its allies. • Will the BJP now change its strategy to work for the unity and integrity of the country? — Mohammed We always work for the unity and integrity of the country. Our motto is ‘‘Sarvadharma Samabhavana—appeasement of none and justice for all’’. We will continue to work in that direction and we will make further efforts to remove the misconceptions about our party in certain sections of the people. • Will the BJP now shunt people encouraging Godhra kind of actions, tarnishing the BJP’s image, as you lost in Gujarat also? — Alok Verma We are meeting shortly to work out the future strategy. We are not an ordinary political party, we are a mission. With regard to Godhra and subsequent incidents, we try to do everything to prevent such incidents. Let me clarify that we did not lose in Gujarat, though the numbers have come down. We are ahead of the Congress, with 14 seats out of 26. • What happened to ‘a party with difference’? You seem to be making wrong political moves. It also seems Vajpayeeji is not in command. — Sudhi We are a party with difference, both ideologically and functionally. We don’t think that we made a wrong move, we might have failed to assess ground realities. Vajpayeeji is very much in command and the leader of our party, but we took all the decisions collectively after thorough discussions. However, we will work hard and will try to regain the people’s confidence. • Why did your party break your alliance with the DMK and MDMK, who are more reliable than the AIADMK? If you avoided the arrest of Vaiko or got him released earlier, you could have won hearts of many. — Mahendran We did not break our ties with the DMK and MDMK, they walked out of the NDA, after serving with us till the end of the government, on account of local compulsions. Vaiko’s arrest or release was a state subject. POTA’s implementation rests with the state government. In spite of our best efforts, we could not do anything.
