•SHISHIR GUPTA: In the last Himachal assembly elections, you felt the impact of the BSP and now enjoy the support of one BSP MLA. Do you think BSP will be a force to reckon in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections?

BSP has contested elections in Himachal for quite a few years but has never had any impact there. For the first time they have won an assembly segment, but that is an individual victory and not that of BSP. So I don’t think BSP has a role to play in Himachal Pradesh. In Himachal, politics are bipolar with clear alternatives: it has to be either BJP or Congress.

•SHISHIR GUPTA: What about the national level?

With the national parties not getting a clear majority, regional parties have grown. However, even at the national level, BSP will not have a large number of MPs.

•SUMAN JHA: You and Shanta Kumar, although rivals, joined forces during the assembly elections, one of the reasons why BJP did so well in Himachal Pradesh. How was it decided that he would come to Delhi and you would be chief minister?

This is a misconception. Shanta Kumar and I have been working together in Himachal Pradesh for a decade. We have fought every election together against the Congress. Each political party has a number of leaders but everybody cannot become the CM or an MP. One cannot have a single-leader party. BJP has a number of leaders of equal status. Any one of them can be the CM and anyone can be in Lok Sabha.

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