•Does that partly explain the fact that the BJP got routed in all the cities?

I don’t know.

•What you are saying is that it was not a smart political decision on the part of the BJP to oppose the nuclear deal because they actually alienated their key constituency?

They alienated a substantial section of the middle class.

•And part of the reason is that once they had taken a foot forward, it was difficult to step back?

This is the way I look at it, because some of them told me: “We have taken a decision, we can’t go back.”

•Did you try to persuade them?

I had talks with two or three people, but I am not going to name them.

•I will go back to the BJP issue. We talked about whether it should be a party of the centre-right or Hindu-right. The BJP has had three opportunities to fix this. Mr Vajpayee had one, Mr Advani had two. Mr Vajpayee’s opportunity came when the Gujarat riots took place. If he had taken a call on Modi then, things would have changed for the BJP. Second, Mr Advani’s Jinnah statement: if he had stayed firm on what he had said and articulated the reasons he had said it, maybe that was a second opportunity of placing the BJP closer to the right. Third was Varun Gandhi’s speech: when by just saying no to one person who was not capable of getting more than one or two seats — his own seat, Maneka could have won her seat anyway — the BJP could have achieved the same thing. What is it with these senior leaders that they lost all the three opportunities?

... contd.