• UNNI RAJEN SHANKER: How do you view the political situation in the country after the Gujarat elections? Will the result affect the relationship between the Congress and the Left? How will it impact the Indian polity?

SITARAM YECHURY: The Gujarat election result is only one part of a larger jigsaw puzzle. There’s the fact of Mr L.K. Advani emerging as the future leader. Then there’s the very strident opposition to the prime minister’s 15-point minority welfare plan. And this stridency was reflected in the Gujarat campaign with the communal agenda. A win in Gujarat for the BJP will bolster this further. That is why you will find that Mr Advani was very aggressive even in his Himachal campaign. I think that, as the general elections draw closer, whenever that may be, this stridency will have an impact on national politics. It will have an impact in the sense that the secular parties will find a need to cooperate more. It will have an impact on the BJP allies in the NDA. Will they be comfortable in alliance with the BJP? It will also mean that it is no longer the coalition dharma that Atal Bahari Vajpayee talked about. So Advani is not going to be Atal Behari Vajpayee Number 2. He’s going to be the lone crusader that he was at the time of the Rath Yatra.

• UNNI RAJEN SHANKER: Did the Left parties give the government more time on the nuclear deal because of the Gujarat elections?

... contd.