Donations that come by cheque from supporters. No, we have not received any corporate support. I mean somebody wanted to organise a meeting for me and three goons come over there and said we will make trouble for you, cancel the meeting. So the lady rang me up and said: Sorry Mr Bhatia I have cancelled the meeting.

But why are they so worried. Don't they know it is very tough fight for Independent candidates?

(Smiles.) They know that this time things are going to be different that's why they are behaving like this. They did a bit last time. But not so much. If they weren't scared, they wouldn't stop my leaflets. What harm can a leaflet do from a stupid old Independent as good as a cockroach. How can he harm us?

I got 60,000 votes last time which is a national record, if you define an Independent candidate as one who is not related to a political family, who is not a rebel candidate (I don't get the ticket, I am also Congress so I will stand as an Independent. So he is technically an Independent. But in politics he is not an independent he is very much part of the usual political set up). So if you take that definition into account and then count the votes, I have a national record even (former Chief Election Commissioner T N) Seshan got something like five or six thousand votes when he stood for election.

But what goes against Independents are the fact that they are not known. Also, the section of the electorate that does not vote may still not vote because they don't feel Independents are viable. Also, they are worried after the elections -- during the standard bout of horsetrading -- they will join a party any way?

The points you raise are correct, but some of them are double-edged. They can can work for you and it can work against you.

About horse trading: People keep asking you that when the government is being formed, what will you do? Will you take 4 crores and sit quietly at home. And you keep saying: No, no, I am a good guy. Look at my track record. I'm honest, I'm honest. I will never do this. I have not joined politics to do this... And then you think what the hell, why keep giving these elaborate explanations god knows how much people believe anyway.

So I just put in one of my leaflets that I took three oaths. One of them was that I will not participate, I will not vote when the government is being formed at the Centre. The day I get elected I will not vote for anybody for forming a government.

But what if you still do?

Then people will spit on me! It will be suicidal for me. And I am in no difficulty for doing this because I am not in this for money. In fact I am having a difficult time now explaining why I have 22 crores (in the declaration of assets for candidates). I will vote once the government is formed but that will for issue-based support to the government.

You said an Independent candidate is not likely to be well-known. That does not apply to me, if I can be immodest enough to say so. But not because of anything else, but because I have been working here.

What percentage of Pune really knows you?

They may not vote for me. But they do know me. I am making a distinction between two things. Those who will vote for me and are my supporters and those who know me. Those who know me -- I would say a lot of people, almost everyone, because I have been coming out in the news for years now and I have fought an election and the leaflets have gone out.

But even among the illiterate classes or the semi-literate classes?

Maybe you have a point there. But amongst the slum dwellers (the jhopadpatti people) I am known to them because I worked here in the corporation and that was when this tamasha took place. They came on centre- stage because I wanted to divert funds for slum improvement, water supply, toilets and I fought for them. That's how they came to know me. And in the last election, as I said, though it was the wrong strategy I went to all the slums.

So it is not that I am not known there. I am known there.

But I agree with you -- not as well known as I am in the rest of the population. But that is not a major issue actually because people may know me and still not vote for me because they are indebted to some other party or because they have been bribed or whatever.

Then what about the educated classes who does not usually vote and who cannot be persuaded to vote for you either?

Like in other urban areas, people feel that my vote doesn't matter. They feel (the results are influenced by votebanks) the person in the slum and he is bribed and he is intimidated and he votes for whichever party. He feels as a conscientious, educated voter I can't change that...

But in Pune the situation is different. You know in Mumbai there are constituencies where 60 percent of the voters are slum dwellers. In Pune it is not like that. Thirty-five per cent live in slums and 65 per cent are middle class voters.

So the first message we had to get through was: You do have the power! Your vote does matter. You can change the result. You are 65 per cent in the numbers game.

On election day if you go out and press the button, you can put your man in place. This was the first thrust of our campaign and it was a surprise for many people to know that they could be on the winning side. We expect this time that those 8 lakh sleeping voters are going to come out this time in large numbers and vote.

But don't they still feel that Independents lack efficacy?

Yes, the other argument: What can one man do?

People tell me, that we are worried about the government at the Centre so we must vote for large parties otherwise we have weak, unstable, ineffective governments at the Centre.

So we have to keep telling them that you are locking yourself in a vicious circle. You say you want democracy for good governance. Now you are saying to make this democracy function you need mafia and political parties (we link the two, the words are almost synominous because every large political party rests on very strong mafia foundations).

We say instability at the Centre won't harm anyone (France was changing its government every ten months for a while). India has a steel frame that functions (regardless of what government is in place). The administration will still carry on.

The Budget is not made by the minister. It is made by some deputy secretary, assisted by some clerks sitting in the finance ministry. That process will carry on. So you have a permanent, stable state bureaucracy to run the administration, to maintain the law and order, you have your army, you have your taxation structure in place...

How will the country not be run? And let the groupings take place in Parliament. Let like parties form coalitions and let individuals and groups can form them.

It is not worth saying we just want very few large parties in Parliament and you pay the price in terms of bad governance. This whole business is about governance. We want elections, we want democracy to get good administration, honest public servants, good services, quality services honestly delivered that is what the whole game is about.

We are also being very very circumspect about the assurances we are giving people. We say as a single MP I cannot influence foreign policy or what happens in Kashmir. On national issues, gender issues things like that I can create awareness, get good people together, maybe take the government to court, create opinion, create a lobby, but for Pune the delivery will be in much more concrete terms. This is not just an advocacy function. Here we will deliver -- substantive, concrete commodities.

Top of the list being good governance.

Photograph: Sanjay Sawant

Also see: The lady who will surprise Sharad Pawar! | India Votes

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