TALKING POINT: Vajpayee is following the Kumar-Fernandes spat

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is keeping a tab on all aspects of the political situation in Bihar. Apart from the agitation against the Rabri Devi Government, the brewing feud between Samata Party leaders George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar has been engaging his attention. When reports that Fernandes had spoken to Kumar and a possibility of a peace deal were brought to Vajpayee's notice, he is said to have remarked, "To dono phir gale mil gaye hain (The two have made up again)." But the situation is not as sanguine. Having to contend with two warring colleagues in the Cabinet isn't easy. Letting Laloo Prasad Yadav have the last laugh is even worse.

Former Railways minister and Congress MP C.K. Jaffer Sharief is back at what he does best: criticising the party leadership. In 2000, his target was party President Sonia Gandhi's style of functioning; now it's Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna. Sonia, much as she hates it, can't afford to lose a powerful Muslim leader like Sharief as she eyes the 2004 assembly polls. No wonder Krishna is being diplomatic: "I've never believed in confrontation." Over to Sharief.

It's a case of the immovable object meeting the irresistible force. In Orissa, a bureaucracy drunk on power is on a collision course with an incensed legislature. In the last assembly session, legislators targeted the bureaucracy in a rare show of unity.

The first salvo was fired against two women IAS officers of the state, with members accusing them of corruption and immorality. Next, some MLAs brought privilege motions against "errant" district collectors and senior officials, accusing them of looting the exchequer and holding the state's development process hostage to their personal whims. The final word on the battle isn't out yet but in the words of Rabi Das, a Bhubaneswar-based senior political commentator, "a power conflict has finally broken out in Orissa".

CONFESSIONAL

Digvijay Singh The Madhya Pradesh chief minister spoke to Editor Prabhu Chawla on Seedhi Baat on party matters and performance

Q. In the Congress, there is a tendency to pull down successful party leaders. How did you stay on top?
A. Nobody has tried to pull me down. I've maintained my position because of everybody's support.

Q. The Planning Commission report says that though the poverty levels in your state came down from 40 per cent to 37 per cent, it is not as impressive as the national figure.
A. Actually it came down from 42 per cent to 37 per cent.

Q. Recently you tried to work on the Hindu agenda by asking for the Mahakal temple land. Is it because assembly elections are drawing near?
A. First of all it's not a Hindu agenda. The Kumbh Mela is scheduled to take place in 2004 in Ujjain. So I told the officials concerned that they need the land for the event.

Q. The Congress is now talking of taking the support of parties having the same ideology.
A. The Congress believes in the ideology of communal harmony and supports the interests of the poor and farmers in the country.

Q. After B.S. Shekhawat you are considered the representative of Thakurs.
A. Only the media is trying to project me as a Thakur leader. There is no Thakur population in Madhya Pradesh, so the question of my representing them doesn't arise.

Q. Don't you want to be given more responsibility at the national level?
A. I don't think so. I am a chief minister and I am satisfied with my position.

Q. Don't you have any political ambition?
A. Everybody has ambitions but I know my limitations and capabilities.

Seedhi Baat is telecast on Aaj Tak on Wednesdays at 9.30 p.m. and on Thursdays at 12.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m.