'The moment a new election comes, new guarantees are announced.'
'The BJP is adept at diverting people's attention.'
The seating at the entrance of former Congress MP, ex-governor of Nagaland and Kerala and retired Indian Police Service officer, Nikhil Kumar's home on Patna's Boring Road is occupied with party workers and staff.
One can overhear talk about the seat sharing arrangement between the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal which form the INDIA alliance along with the Left in Bihar.
The Congress is contesting 9 of Bihar's 40 seats. Mr Nikhil Kumar, nearly 81, had won from Aurangabad in 2004. The constituency was represented by his father and later Bihar chief minister Satyendra Narain Sinha seven times in Parliament -- and once by his wife, Shyama Singh.
Mr Kumar was very keen to contest from the seat, but the seat has gone to the RJD in the seat sharing arrangement among the INDIA alliance partners.
In an interview to Rediff.com's Archana Masih, Nikhil Kumar expressed a dignified disappointment at not getting a ticket, his thoughts on how the INDIA alliance was thought as a formidable coalition when it was forged, but unfortunately that did not happen in Bihar and Mr Modi's unfulfilled declarations which are fashionable called 'guarantees'.
Were you given the indication that the Congress would pitch for the Aurangabad seat, and that you would be the likely candidate?
Who in the party gave you that impression?
It is a traditional Congress seat which has stayed with the Congress ever since elections began.
My father represented the seat 7 times. He was also a member of the provisional parliament -- after him my wife and I represented the seat.
It is a widely acknowledged fact that Aurangabad is a Congress seat. There is no need to stress the fact because it is accepted that this is a Congress seat.
So how did this seat then go to the RJD instead of the Congress?
Since we are in a coalition with the RJD, representatives of the Congress and RJD met and this decision was taken by the committee.
You have expressed your disappointment about not getting the ticket. Do you think the RJD has given the Congress a raw deal in the seat arrangement in Bihar?
Numerically we have been given nine seats which is the same as what we had asked for. It is not just the question of the number of seats, but which seats did we ask for?
The seats we asked for were not given to us. Aurangabad is one of those seats.
Considering the RJD did not win a single seat in 2019, do you feel its estimate of winning 26 seats is overplaced?
I can only say that the situation this year is absolutely similar to that in 2019. The NDA won 39 of 40 seats, the only seat it did not win was a Congress seat, Kishanganj.
If that is some kind of indication then I can't say, but I hope not and that and we are able to win more seats.
Do you think the Congress leadership gave into the RJD due to political realism, because it knew it had a chance of only winning those seats?
Our Congress state president was in the negotiations and tried his best to convince the RJD about Aurangabad, but he couldn't.
Our party was unable to convince our coalition partner, but the system is that the coalition partners meet and reach a certain conclusion and the announcement is made through a press conference, but that did not happen this time.
The RJD went ahead and allotted its party symbols to its candidates which took us entirely by surprise and Aurangabad was one of those seats.
Once you allot a symbol then the possibility of a rethink is almost nil. It is not that it hasn't happened in the past, but if it happens in the case of one seat, then it becomes very difficult.
Do you feel that perhaps your party did not want to endanger the INDIA alliance and hence decided to adopt this coalition dharma because the INDIA alliance is already under attack from the ruling party?
When the INDIA alliance was forged it was thought it would make a formidable coalition on an all-India scale, but unfortunately that did not happen, especially in Bihar.
The Congress party was always willing to see that the alliance was a success and is very serious about ensuring that the alliance will succeed.
It didn't happen because there was a consensus on 9 seats, but this consensus came about with the Congress party conceding ground which is an indication of its intention that the INDIA alliance succeeds.
What is your realistic assessment of how the INDIA alliance will fare in Bihar?
It will depend on the candidates contesting the seats, so I can't tell you off hand as to what will be the result. But I can tell you with a great deal of assurance that I would have won the Aurangabad seat. If you go there, you will see there was a dominant favourable atmosphere towards me.
It is a direct fight between the INDIA alliance and NDA, so let us see what happens.
This alliance would have worked and its candidates would have won if the selection of candidates and constituencies had been better managed.
Do you feel Rahul and Sonia Gandhi are too fond of Lalu Yadav which somehow blinds their political decisions?
Our leaders know best. Their feeling is that our alliance with the RJD is good and should be retained.
Do you think the alliance would have fared better if Nitish Kumar had been part of the alliance?
At present the INDIA alliance consists of the Congress, RJD and Left and has control over a certain block of votes.
If Nitish Kumar had been in the alliance, there would have been four parties -- arithmetically, it would have been better.
Do you think the time taken to decide the seat sharing arrangement was the reason for Nitish Kumar's exit from INDIA and the Congress not getting what it asked for?
We had to consider all the 40 seats which would require a great deal of discussion on each of those seats. But, yes, we could have organised the seat sharing arrangement earlier.
Once that was finalised, we could have chosen our candidates, but that did not happen.
What have you thought about yourself now that you are no longer in the fray from Aurangabad?
Nothing. I was very keen to contest the Aurangabad seat, but that is not to be.
Do you feel the BJP will win all 40 seats in Bihar? What makes it a formidable force in Bihar?
Every election is fought on people's perception of the political parties concerned and their candidates. Every political party wants to appeal to the electorate in a manner that the electorate vote for it.
In 2014, Mr Modi made some declarations which are now fashionably called guarantees.
Those guarantees appealed to the people because they would have liked 15 lakh rupees to come into their bank accounts, doubling of farmer's income by 2022 -- such announcements were made by Mr Modi during his campaign which appealed to voters and they voted for the BJP. People were attracted to the BJP because of these guarantees.
What people forget is that those promises were not honoured. Rather demonetisation almost wiped our whole economy.
What happens is that the electorate is not allowed to think about these things, the moment a new election comes, new guarantees are announced. The BJP is adept at diverting people's attention.
- Part 2 of the Interview: 'As long as one is friendly with the BJP...'
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
