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The Rediff Interview/Kalyan Singh

'Yes, there are some people who have been wanting to send me off to Delhi right from the beginning'

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh seem to be sailing in the same boat, perhaps the only difference being that unlike Vajpayee, Kalyan is facing more danger from party insiders.

For Vajpayee, the task is easier since he has to pacify the tempers of allies only, for which he readily finds able mediators in Jaswant Singh or Pramod Mahajan. Back in Lucknow, Kalyan faces an uphill task, in tackling his own colleagues who are seemingly bent on easing him out of Uttar Pradesh. Even state BJP chief Raj Nath Singh, who remained with Kalyan Singh in the recent battle for the BJP government's survival, is now on the other side of the fence, despite denials to the contrary.

Kalyan Singh had never conceived of such a situation. Outsiders, he could have sorted out with his usual retaliatory style, but he is fully aware of his constraints in launching a counter-offensive against his own party colleagues.

More than any other thing, it was Kalyan Singh's proximity to a woman municipal corporator, Kusum Rai, that has brought him into the eye of the current storm. Much of the controversy arose following doling out of largesse by the chief minister for development work in her ward. What made matters worse was the woman's retaliation in a local Hindi daily, lashing out at some of Kalyan's cabinet colleagues. Consequently, two ministers, who were already up in arms against Kalyan, roped in the state BJP chief too, thereby stepping up their tirade against the chief minister.

While they are demanding disciplinary action against the 'insolent' corporator, their real game is to bring about a change of guard in Lucknow.

Even as the scales remain tilted in favour of Kalyan Singh, there is no doubt that he is doing a tightrope walk. While battling against the odds, he is bubbling with confidence that he would continue to stick on. In an exclusive interview in Lucknow, he claimed he had never resorted to any action that could have given rise to strife and infighting, that has left the BJP divided into two camps -- 'pro-Kalyan' and 'anti-Kalyan'.

Charged with inaccessibility, he maintains, "I have thrown my doors open to all public representatives. Timings have been fixed for ministers, MPs, MLAs, heads of public undertakings and local bodies, besides members of the state party executive, district and city unit chiefs as well as other office-bearers. And mind you, I have sent individual letters to each of the ministers, MPs, MLAs and others. Besides I also meet the general public at my home every Monday morning."

Refuting the charge that he does not pay heed to the recommendations of public representatives, he points out, "I am the type who takes cognisance of newspaper reports as well, then where is the question of ignoring them? Reports relating to law and order, corruption and red-tapism draw my immediate attention, and you will many find inquiries ordered by me directly on the basis of these clippings."

He claims that in matters related to transfers and postings of officials too, he had taken MPs, MLAs and, of course, ministers into confidence. And even as he denies any political motivation behind the large-scale administrative shake-up (nearly 450 administrative and police officials were reshuffled) recently ordered by him, he admits, "Yes, I did shift some district magistrates because of the persistent demand from local leaders," but hastens to clarify, "However, this was not without offering the good ones well deserved postings elsewhere."

He also refutes the oft-repeated charge that his transfer exercise had beaten all past records. "The number of transfers ordered by me are one-third of those done during the tenures of Mayawati or Mulayam Singh Yadav."

The UP chief minister maintains he would also ensure that officers once posted now will not be shifted again for another year. He proposes to review the performance of each of these officials after they have completed one year, "following which their fate would be decided."

Kalyan Singh contradicts himself when, on one hand, he denies any infighting in the state BJP, while on the other, he confesses, "Yes, there are some people who have been wanting to send me off to Delhi right from the beginning." He, however, makes it loud and clear that despite all the campaign launched by a section of BJP leaders against him, the party had been steadily improving its position during his chief ministership. "If we won 26 of the 39 Vidhan Parishad (Upper House) seats that went to polls a couple of months back, we then took our Lok Sabha tally to 60 (including three allies) in the Lok Sabha election from UP. Surely, you cannot underestimate the BJP."

The UP chief minister sees no possibility a rapprochement between the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party that could pose a serious threat to the BJP. "I can assure you, even if Mulayam and Mayawati strike a deal again, the arrangement will not trickle down to the lowest rung of the respective parties, as the differences at the worker level are rather sharp." However, his party colleagues, including some ministers, were of the view, "Kalyan's own actions would eventually unite the divided foes of the BJP, and strike a death knell for the party."

They substantiate their apprehensions by pointing out, "The Lok Sabha election results clearly show that the votes of the BSP and SP put together, leave the BJP winners in many constituencies far behind."

However, Kalyan Singh remains unnerved, and hopes to sail through the current crises, specially since he has been given the go-ahead by party bigwigs who had summoned him to Delhi for talks. Surely they would not want any crisis to precipitate in Lucknow, when their hands are already full with temperamental allies in New Delhi.

Realising that much of the tirade against him was largely on account of the prominence given to Kusum Rai, the chief minister terms it as a "vilification campaign". Lashing out at those who have been adding fuel to fire, he remarked, "Those who have objections about her access to me perhaps do not know that her entire family has been known to ours for donkey's years, and it's not only she, but her father, her brother and other family members who also enjoyed the same proximity to us even before I became chief minister."

What gave further room to the chief minister's detractors was the security cover provided to her at the instance of the chief minister's secretariat.

The anti-Kalyan lobby in the party also allege that Kusum Rai has easier access to the chief minister than even his cabinet colleagues, and that she also "interfered" with the working of the government. The chief minister, however, flatly denies this and challenges his adversaries to quote one instance where such interference could be established.

The Rediff Interview