How can you have a commission to oversee an executive function? Under what laws? Do they have such commissions in Kerala or West Bengal? If they have, they should tell me.

• So you think the Left agitation was unnecessary?

Absolutely unnecessary.

• The Left has also demanded allotment of title rights to lands forcibly occupied by agitators. Will you oblige?

How can that happen in a democracy? Someone will occupy property—belonging to private, Government or Waqf bodies—and force us to allot it? This cannot happen in rule of law.

• When Congress President Sonia Gandhi called you after the Khammam firing, did she tell you to go soft on the Left because the Centre survives on their support?

It is a fact that their support is necessary. It is also a fact that we indulge them a lot. The Congress President told me to accommodate them as much as possible.

• Did you feel betrayed by the Left? Are they demanding too much?

I think the CPI is reasonable, but the CPI-M wants to have the cake and eat it too. I can only accept what is acceptable. I cannot let anarchy prevail.

• Your police filed an FIR against Taslima Nasreen whereas the MLAs who attacked her are roaming free. Isn’t that anarchy?

Only an FIR has been registered against Taslima, by one of the MLAs. The police cannot refuse to file an FIR. The MLAs involved were arrested and released on bail. In Andhra Pradesh, no constitutional freedom of anyone can be curtailed by anyone.

... contd.