CBI will chargesheet you in the fodder scam. Will you quit?
No way, I will not surrender to the CBI's whims. After all, it is working as a political tool.
In whose hands?
In the hands of my political rivals, in the hands of reactionary and feudal forces. Much before it completed its so-called investigation, it has pronounced its judgement through the media.
But your partymen have also demanded your ouster.
Yes, they have also got their vested interests. They are the ones who have no mass base. They are scared by my appeal and rapport with the masses. They would not succeed in politics unless they finish a leader with a mass base like me. That is why they want my resignation.
You entered public life as a young leader of the JP movement which was essentially against corruption. How do you feel being branded corrupt?
Yes, I was in the JP movement. And even today, my commitment against corruption remains the same. But I cannot accept the CBI as the sole agency to decide and, in fact, subvert people's mandate in my favour. I have been fighting for the people in the state. In the process, I have also fought against corruption. Otherwise, how would the CBI have come to know about the fodder scam? But the CBI is using it politically.
Are you suggesting that the CBI decision to chargesheet you is wrong?
Absolutely. They have done everything to change the direction of the investigations. They have tortured, tutored and extracted statements.
The PM belongs to your party and has been elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar. What do you expect from him?
Justice, nothing mole. That is what I am fighting for I will fight it out in court and in the streets. And the people will fight for me.
Will you do this without resigning?
Yes. The question of my resignation does not arise.
But Chandradeo Verma has resigned from the Cabinet.
That was his decision. It was between the prime minister and him.
There are dissidents who want you to resign.
They are just 20. These 20 hardly make or unmake a government.
You have claimed that you were more responsible for the implementation of the Mandal Commission report than V.P. Singh. But the public perception is very different.
The media makes or unmakes Mandal messiahs. But I told Ram Vilas Paswan and V.P. Singh that the only way to counter Devi Lal politically was by implementing the report. The report had been lying with VP for almost 10 months without any action being taken on it. I am just putting the facts before the public.
You have accused Shared Yadav of delaying L.K. Advani's arrest in Bihar during his rath yatra in October 1990.
Yes, he called me up then. He was a Union minister and warned me that my action would cost us our government at the centre
