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Undeterred by the Congress’s dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is gearing up to lead his party in the Assembly elections slated for October. In an interview with Sanjay Jog, he discusses a host of issues. Edited excerpts:
A recent pre-poll survey by a leading marketing research firm projected a complete washout for the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance in Maharashtra.
I do not want to comment on the findings of the survey. Personally, the survey indicated to me the need to lead the state. I do not want to completely rubbish it. Various factors such as when it was conducted — whether it was close to the Lok Sabha polls — have to be taken into account. It is an evolving situation and we will do well. The Congress party’s tally was low in the Lok Sabha polls. It cannot go below that in the coming Assembly elections. We are going up from that point.
People do not want to completely decimate the Opposition and make it dictatorial when there is no Opposition; people will balance out.
Voters expressed anger against the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government over various issues. They wanted a change. And, Modi did sell himself as if he was selling an FMCG product, by using new marketing techniques and massive advertisement. It is quite complex and a lot of case studies will have to be carried out in this regard. Modi converted the campaign into a US presidential election-type.
Will the Modi factor affect the prospects of the Congress-NCP alliance in the Assembly polls?
There cannot be a Modi wave here because Modi will not be the chief minister. Further, there is confusion within Opposition ranks on their chief ministerial candidate. We will have to see whether people vote for the party, the ideology or the leader.
The Congress and NCP high commands have already decided to continue the alliance between the two parties in the Assembly polls. There are certain unresolved issues; we will sit down and resolve those. Seat-sharing negotiations will be held soon.
What about anti-incumbency?
I do not think there is anti-incumbency. Why did we win after 10 years? Why was there no anti-incumbency after the UPA government’s five-year term? It is just a perception among people: Could the government have done better or did it fail? There are umpteen examples of people voting an incumbent government back to power; there are also examples of the people voting a government out of power.
Will corruption be a major issue?
We will see whether people vote keeping corruption in mind. Will they separate those perceived to be corrupt at the level of the Assembly or the party? They punished UPA-II for scams for various reasons. Most of the scams surfaced due to the Right to Information (RTI) Act, which we brought in. If there was no RTI, none of the scams would have surfaced.
What will you sell to voters?
We willy-nilly have to talk about our work in the past 15 years —we have given stability and not allowed communal conflagration. We continue to be the number one in industrial growth; there are very few areas in which we lag others. In social sectors, too, we are quite ahead. I am ready for a debate on the Gujarat model.
We are preparing a Maharashtra vision; we want Maharashtra to be number one not because this will make us feel good. The vision is to address the challenges of urbanisation, jobs for the younger generation and building a knowledge society. We need another five-year term to implement a model of inclusive growth, as well as high growth to generate enough surplus for infrastructure, factories, schools and sustainable agriculture. Modi never talked about a manifesto; he sold a dream without saying what he wanted to do.
People have voted for a strong government at the Centre; there is a trend towards consolidation. In Maharashtra, there has been a fragmented mandate in the past 15 years and it is difficult to take hard, tough decisions. We will appeal to voters to give a mandate for a strong government.
In our campaign, we are aggressively employing all the tools required in this day and age — for instance, social media. I will start campaigning rigorously once tickets are distributed.
As far as election dates are concerned, any time before or after Diwali is good. The Assembly should be constituted by November 9.
Have you made up your mind on contesting the Assembly polls?
Not yet. The party will decide.
How do you rate the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government’s performance?
He will have to deliver. First, he has no bench strength and if he continues to overburden ministers with four-five ministries, they cannot deliver. So far, his performance has been weak. He wants to make the running of the government PMO (Prime Minister’s Office)-centric; there will be disenchantment. Ultimately, one person cannot have all the wisdom and knowledge required for such a task. It has to be a collective effort. Also, there are issues of phone-tapping, as seen in Gujarat. And, the person who did it in Gujarat is heading the party. Then, bugs were found in someone’s house.
I am sure they will make mistakes, as some voices regarding Hindutva and the Hindi language are coming up. They will continue to pursue their ideology, which they nurtured for long. But people will not like it.
Is it time for Priyanka Gandhi to join politics?
It is for her to decide whether she wants to take up a party post.
