Since you took up the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origins with her personally, would it be right to presume you were more agitated about it as compared to Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar?

Yes, that is true.

When exactly did you speak to her?

After the fall of the BJP Government on April 17, when she consulted some persons individually, I was also called and had a long discussion with her.

What exactly did you tellher?

I categorically told her this is not the time for her to claim the prime minister's post...I don't remember the date, but it was after she met the President the second time to convey that she has 232 MPs.

But by that time it was almost certain that she would not be able to become the PM.

(Long pause) Certainly, it was becoming clear. But perhaps even at that time, if she had said that she wouldn't be a prime ministerial candidate and the entire Opposition parties could sit together and agree on a consensus candidate, an alternative government could have been there.

You mean Jyoti Basu or someone from inside the party could have become PM?

Anybody. But it could have been a collective decision.

So you raised the foreigner issue on a one-to-one basis?

I didn't say precisely that. But I did say that this is one of the issues.

What was her reaction?

She said she was not interested in prime ministership, position or power. It's the party that wants her to beprime minister.

Then how did this issue suddenly come up at the May 15 CWC meeting?

I think when we started discussing the strategy about the coming (Lok Sabha) elections, Mr Dhawan (R.K.) raised this point.

But it has been reported it was she who raised the issue in her opening remarks.

Yes. I think Mr Dhawan took the cue from there.

But why did she raise it?

That I can't say.

She reportedly pointedly asked whether you had something to say?

Well...I requested her that I have a few things to say and I said it. I was very firm on that day.

Don't you think that by coming to the forefront even before Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar had raised the issue, you gave her a shock?

I don't know...I don't know.

Because there was an impression that you were her most trusted...

What I read subsequently is that she was not shocked but hurt.

But it was you who hurt her, considering you were trusted by her?

(Laughs)

You were also heardsaying that you were not one of the persons she trusted.

No, this I said when someone commented that I am very, very close to her. I was close to her in the sense that she was the Congress president. We said in our letter that we want her to continue as the Congress president. We have nothing against her. We respect her. We still respect her. But when it comes to heading a government, it is a different matter.

But she made you the task force president against the wishes of her so-called coterie. She trusted you more compared to them.

Maybe. And I must tell you with a clear conscious that whatever task was assigned to me, I did it with all sincerity and to the best of my ability. I did it for the party. I have built the party in the North-east.

But we hear that she is more hurt by your action than by Sharad or Tariq's.

I can't help it. I have spoken the truth, nothing but the truth. And if truth hurts somebody, I can't help it.

She appointed you in the CWC ignoring the claimsof others in the North-east region. Didn't you owe a responsibility to tell her personally about your strong feelings on the issue rather than in the open CWC?

Well, ours is a democratic party. After the dissolution of the Lok Sabha, we had expected that the CWC would be convened. It was not called till May 15. Shall I volunteer things again and again? I had already told her about my views on the issue. I think that was good enough.

It is said that you drafted the four-page letter sent by Pawar, Tariq and you after the May 15 meeting?

No, I didn't draft it.

Who did it then?

It was Sharad Pawar who drafted it.

But Pawar says it was you who insisted on inserting the paragraph about Sonia's inexperience in public life?

Well...I don't know...I haven't heard him saying so.

You reportedly said in New York any ABC cannot become a PM.

Yes.

But some feel it was not a decent remark.

Maybe. As a tribal, we don't know any diplomacy. (Laughs) Diplomacy has noplace in tribal way of life.

But Sonia did encourage new people like you, Rajesh Pilot...

You see, we have never said she shouldn't come. We ourselves approached her to come to the rescue of the party. But there is a difference between the Congress president and the PM.

But don't you think she made it clear in her statement of May 15 that she is not going to earn bread and butter for you or Pawar?

(Laughs) Nobody is working for any individual...We are working for the party. For the bread and butter of millions of people.

That's why Pilot said at the CWC that the issue of PM's post be decided by the parliamentary party after the polls. Let the people decide.

Yes, he said so. Had that been accepted at the meeting, the matter would have been resolved. I would have agreed to that.

But your letter doesn't indicate that.

(The) letter doesn't say so because after Rajesh Pilot said so, it was rejected by most of them. So where is the question of any compromise?