Interviews

'The BJP's base is shifting to the countryside'
In a no-holds-barred conversation, Chandan Mitra, editor and managing director of The Pioneer, member of the Rajya Sabha and BJP supporter, tells Savera R Someshwar that the blame for the failure lies squarely at the party's door.

'Youth have to be taken on board'
'The demographics is that the majority of our voters and the majority of the population are youth, so we must make serious efforts,' says Biju Janata Dal MP 'Jay' Panda.

'Rahul should thank his mother for letting him go alone'
'She did not push him nor did she push the party in his direction. If she had declared him a leader, that would have been her biggest mistake. She did not do that,' says political thinker Sanjay Kumar.

'Mamata's win has nothing to do with the Tatas'
'It has everything to do with the West Bengal government's policies. They were too much in a hurry. They should not have hurried through with the land acquisition,' feels RSP leader T J Chandrachoodan.

'Rahul could become a desirable leader'
'I feel Rahul Gandhi's emerging influence may do good to the Congress.' Political analyst Cho Ramaswamy on the post-election scenario.

'An event of such magnitude never seen in the world'
Election Commissioner S Y Quarishi on Election 2009 and the challenges many the Election Commission faced.

'We drove out an evil force called Left'
'People of this state have suffered for long. Hence, their patience level is very low at the moment. We have to act double quick to improve the state of life in Bengal,' says senior Congress leader Krishnendu Narayan Choudhury.

'The Left parties were never our allies'
'At the moment, we don't visualise any scenario where the support of the Left will be an indispensable factor. The Congress is comfortable with its present allies. We will add to their number in the coming days.'

'BJP rout was clearly the swansong of Advani'
'The BJP ran a miserable campaign and the Third Front, happily, was clueless. It also showed the disutility of a negative campaign where the BJP could not proffer any viable policy alternatives to Congress,' says Professor Sumit Ganguly.

'Time for real Manmohan Singh to show his mettle'
BJP spokeperson Ravi Shankar Prasad says, 'It is the time for the real Manmohan Singh, the economist Manmohan Singh, to show his mettle in stemming the rot of the manufacturing sector, the industrial sector, the agricultural sector.'

'It will be a thorny road ahead for Mamata'
'The Congress is the only party that can counter US imperialism and the Left Front has always attempted to put up a fight against imperialism. Logically, therefore, the Congress and Left must work together to battle against it,' says outspoken Bengal Minister Subhas Chakraborty.

'This is the biggest gamble the Third Front has undertaken'
'If the Left can get its plans and policies in place and is able to influence the direction of the new government, then we will join,' says powerful CPI-M leader Biman Bose.

'If Mayawati wins 40 seats, the politics of the country will turn turtle'
'Today's national picture, where the power rests with the states and not with the Centre, is like the picture of India before the British took power in India,' says thinker Dr Ashok Mitra.

'If the BJP gets around 170 seats, it will be secular'
'If they get less than 150, they will be communal as far as the other parties are concerned. 150 will be a communal number and 150 and above will be a secular number!' Cho Ramaswamy on the 2009 Lok Sabha election.

'For 42 years, film stars ruled Tamil Nadu. It's time others took over'
'Best Ramasamy', president of Tamil Nadu's newest party, says it is time that the state had a change in its leaders.

'272 is not a magical number for government formation'
'A majority in Parliament is not necessary to run the government,' says Constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap, explaining the legal options before the President once the election results are declared.