Sincere, insincere are not terms I would use. The original draft of the common minimum programme that came for our consideration contained the formulation that India shall work for a strategic relationship with USA. After our objection, this was changed to say that India would work to improve relations with all countries, including USA. The nuclear deal per se was not the issue. Our point was that since we had agreed not to proceed along that course, it should not be done. A section in the Congress understood that. But there was another section that saw it as the best time to get the deal through. To be fair, on all these issues, Sonia Gandhi saw our point of view. The idea was to, as far as possible, work together but on this particular issue, I think they went ahead and did what they agreed not to do.

•D.K. Singh: Your party has been pretty tough on the Prime Minister and soft on the Congress President.

Our party does not choose between personalities. We go by policies. The Prime Minister is the head of the government which implements the policies. He will naturally be in the line of fire more than anybody else.

•Manoj C.G.: In hindsight, do you think allowing the government to go to the IAEA was a tactical mistake on your part?

If at that stage they had not gone to the IAEA, I think the nuclear deal would not have happened. From the moment you let it go to the IAEA, it was on autopilot. We were supporting this government, keeping it going; nobody wanted early elections and we did not want to precipitate a situation whereby elections would be held before schedule. Also, in our opinion, it would not be good for the country to create a situation where the BJP alone could lead a coalition, full term.

... contd.