Q. How seriously will your leg injury affect the party's prospects in the assembly elections in mid-February?
A. It will hardly affect our party. My injury has been a blessing in disguise as it gave me time to think.

Q. Are you worried about the anti-incumbency factor?
A. We are going to the people on the strength of our report card. Let them judge us on performance. I think we fulfilled 80 per cent of popular expectations.

Q. But aren't you harping more on anti-Congressism than performance?
A. We are only reminding the people about the injustices that successive Congress rules
had meted out to Punjab.

Q. The Congress is stridently accusing you of corruption.
A. It's like a thief pointing fingers at others. The Congress is led by Amarinder Singh who is an Akali deserter. But that suits us.

Q. How serious is the threat to your Akali vote bank from the Panthic Morcha?
A. The Panthic Morcha calls itself an Akali entity but is an extension of the Congress.

Q. How would you satisfy the BJP's demand for more seats this time?
A. The Akali-BJP alliance is an alliance of hearts. We'll resolve the issue without fuss.

Q. A section of your party is for inducting new faces.
A. We are not averse to having fresh faces as party nominees.

Q: With elections round the corner, you must be feeling constrained with your leg injury?
A: I am very much in the election mode and have started daily meetings with party workers a day after my return to Chandigarh. That’s a kickstart for our election campaign. Nothing heals me faster than political interaction with partymen.

Q: But there are doubts whether you will be able to actively campaign?
A: Don’t worry on that count. I will be up and about before my doctors expect it. Next month I will be at the forefront of the election campaign.

Q: Have you thought of any alternative strategies given your limited mobility?
A: We will make up for my limited mobility by roping in senior Akali leaders. In a way, my injury has been a blessing in disguise as it gave me plenty of time to think over poll strategies. I am taking the election as a big ‘ jang’ (war).

Q: In what way will the next assembly elections be different from the February 1997 polls?
A: It will be different in the sense that we are going to the people with a positive agenda. Our government combine called the Congress’ bluff of 1997 that the Akalis would not be able to rule for five years and thatterrorism would return. Our biggest achievement has been in bringing peace and communal harmony.

Q: Anti-incumbency factor ?
A: Well, we will going to the people on the strength of our report card. Let them judge us on performance, not propaganda. The SAD-BJP is seeking a fresh mandate with a clear conscience.

Q: There is a public perception that your report card is not impressive ...
A: No government can live up to the people’s expectations in a cent per cent fashion. But, I think we fulfilled 80 per cent of the popular expectations. Our government achieved what the Congress regimes could not in 40 years of rule in Punjab. The Centre, first led by Inder Kumar Gujral and now Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has been too generous in waiving the Rs 8,500 crore loan and sanctioning a host of development projects. We have been getting what we asked for. Only last month, the minister gave us a Rs 1,500-crore package. Still, if the people think we didn’t do much, that is all the more reason for them to give us another chance to do the unfinished tasks.

Q: What has been your singlemost important achievemnt?
A: When the SAD-BJP came to power in 1997, the Congress had gone to town saying that terrorism would come back. Where is terrorism now? There is complete peace and communal harmony. We ended the isolation of Punjab and restored the honour of the Sikh community which at one time was portrayed as anti-national by the Congress. I count that as a major achievement. Look at our cordial equation with the Centre. Let me know any other state which has been visited by a prime minister thre times in a month. Our pragmatic and positive policies are the basis for an excellent equation with the NDA Government.

Q: But what about resolving the long-standing problems of Punjab like the transfer of Chandigarh and Punjabi-speaking areas, or the river water disputes?
A: These problems have been made too knotty by the Congress which has been anti-Punjab since Independence. It would take a lot of patience and political will to solve them.

Q: You seem to be harping on anti-Congressism rather than your own performance?
A: Successive Congress rules had meted out to Punjab. The contrast between the Congress’ step-motherly treatment and the BJP’s brotherly affection towards Punjab is so stark. But for the Congress’ wrong policies, Punjab would have long been the California of India. We are certainly not banking on anti-Congressism. Our achievements speak for themselves.

Q: The Congress is increasingly getting strident in accusing you of corruption?
A: That kind of negative propaganda will not cut any ice with the voters. It’s like a thief pointing fingers at others. The Congress, which was booted out of power for its corruption-ridden governance, has no issues to criticise us . So it’s resorting to mudslinging.

Q: Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh has promised to set up a judicial commission if his party comes to power to investigate charges of corruption against you and your partymen. Any comments?
A: That is an election stunt. The Congress is unfortunately led by Amarinder Singh who is an Akali deserter. He left us because he was denied an assembly ticket by the Shiromani Akali Dal. He is a political pygmy. But that suits us. I don’t have to respond to his every insinuation hurled at me.

Q : How serious is the threat to the Akali votebank from the Panthic Morcha?
A: The Panthic Morcha calls itself an Akali entity but is actually an extension counter of the Congress. It is out to help the Congress. I can tell you today that it will not get even one seat out of 117 seats.

Q: But it may play a spoiler for your party?
A: I don’t really think so. Rather my political sense tells me that the Morcha would only help divide the anti-Akali vote.

Q: What are the chances of the SAD joining hands with Tohra and other Akali factions ?
A: I have never been opposed to the unity. But it has to be on certain principles, not on the ridiculous conditions that Panthic Morcha leaders are putting forward. In any case, we cannot join hands with the likes of Simranjit Singh.

Q: BJP’s demand for more seats this time?
A: The Akali-BJP alliance is not based on sharing seats or even power. It’s an alliance of hearts and we will resolve the ticket issue without any fuss.

Q: A section of your party is for inducting new faces to limit the anti-incumbency factor?
A: We are certainly not averse to having fresh faces as party nominees. Anything that will perk up our poll prospects would be done.

-Ramesh Vinayak

TREMORS Kabul's New View of the World
	India: Old friend; rather, old enemy's old enemy. A common distrust of Pakistan (and love for Hindi movies).
	US: A great country made even greater by the fact that it may bankroll the future.
	China: Looks like a friend, from a distance. After all the Taliban backed Muslim insurgents in Xinjiang.
	Pakistan: The biggest hate. Kabul's new regime has "strategic depth" Islamabad sweating. Poor blighters.