NEW DELHI: Mujhe Kewal suggcy kick aankh dekhai deti hai (All Tse is the parrot’s one eon Singlehandedly I will demolish Narsingh Rao, that bogus fellow; I see my Manzil (destination),”
‘Thus spake Kalpnath Rai, his bitter bile bursting out after three months of jail against the man he perceives was his unjust jailer, Congress president and prime Minister P.V. Narasimha
Rai had just returned to his official residence from Tihar Jail, where he had been imprisoned under TADA. ‘The Supreme Court had ordered his release on bail and told him to hand ‘over his passport to the CBI. By 7:30 P.m., the formalities were complete, and he was a free man.
“Papa, tum jail tho nahin jaoge ab (Papa, you won’t’ go to jail now, will you)?,” his infant daughter Vaishnavi asked, momentarily injecting poignancy into what was an occasion for Rai to sound the bugle for his battle against Rao, “My message to all Congressmen is: ‘Throw out this devil, this fraud, this cheat, this liar, from power,” Rai said. “Twill support anybody who will help me in throwing out Narsingh Rao and) will devote my entire life to this,” “Ninety-nine per cent of Con; ‘men throughout the country do not ‘want Narsingh Rao to continue either as party president or as Prime Minister,” Mr, Rai declared. “Narsingh Rao is not fit to be district president.” ‘The mention of Congress leaders, however, seemed to sour his thoughts, for in the same breath he said: “Party has become dead. Chandrashekhar met me in jail, George Fernandes met me, Birendra Singh, MP, met me, several leaders of opposition parties met me, But these dead people did not meet me. .they has no conscience.”
Someone asked him if he would join forces with dissidents in the Congress party, from which he had resigned a few months back. “I served party for 22years,” he said in a reflective mood. “These so-called leaders you are ask\g me to join, this conglomerate. They didn’t care.
He had gratitude for only one former Congress leader:” N.D. Tiwari toured my constituency, and withdrew his candidate against me. I’m grateful to him.”
‘Asked about his prediction for the ‘Congress in the elections, Mr, Rai did not bat an eyelid. “Hundred seats,” Cameras clicked, and he was silent for a second. “Write it down, Maximum 150 seats, minimum 100.”
He was unable to say which (political) group would form the government, but hastily added that “I’ll support any group that will throw out Narsingh Rao.”
Rai recalled when Indira Gandhi had warned him against Mr. Rao. “She told me, Kalpnath, never talk politics to him, he is a big manipulator.”
Article extracted from this publication >>May 8, 1996
