•Coomi Kapoor: How will you reassure voters that the Third Front govt will not be unstable?

If you look at the instability of non-Congress, non-BJP governments—the Janata government, the V.P. Singh government or the I.K. Gujral government—the instability rose from the outside support that had to be taken from the BJP or the Congress. The one way to not get into an unstable situation is to have the numbers add up in such a way that you will not need decisive outside support.

•Vandita Mishra: What has tied the Third Front together always seemed weak in the face of things that set them apart. How will it be different this time? Also, if the Left gets the largest numbers, will it participate in the Third Front government?

As far as Left participation is concerned, we are tied by the decision of our party congress, which says that if such a situation arises, the Central Committee will take a decision. So, this is a decision that can be taken only after the elections. We see a difference this time compared to earlier occasions: this time, it is not just a numbers game. Why is so much churning taking place? Why have NDA allies for the last 11-12 years, like the BJD, left them? Why have Lalu Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan and Mulayam Yadav, who kept this government going, got together now? Apart from what is normally ascribed to political opportunism or positioning, I think there is another undercurrent that must be recognised and that is, the impact of this recession is actually very intense at the lower level. People are losing jobs, their insecurity is mounting and this has hurt agriculture very badly. So people are looking for an alternative and we will have to provide it.

... contd.