There will be three forces in India now - the BJP, the Congress and the third front. I would have wanted the third force to occupy government and the Congress to occupy the Opposition. The third force has deep political roots. There are a large number of people who don't want the BJP or the Congress. But they are not a cohesive force.

The Left will always play an important role. I would want a strong third force and a strong Congress ...

In a political scenario, there must always be a ruling space and an opposition space. I would have wanted both spaces to have remained secular and not wanted any space to go to any force which is causing division. This is where the third force comes in.

... No party should have a hate agenda ... The BJP along with its various associates - Bajrang Dal, VHP and RSS - have a palpable hate agenda. It may not be in their constitution, it is not mouthed by their top leaders, but it is there. And this is not conducive to the larger interests of the country. Any party with hate agenda, even if it is a caste-based agenda, is not conducive. This has been my position. Other parties do not have a hate agenda.

The smaller parties will be eliminated in the next elections. Everything will be streamlined. It is a historical process. People will make broad choices. At the regional level they will carry - TDP, AIADMK, DMK, Akali Dal -but they will all get into settled formations.

And as in Kerala, settled formations will emerge. There will be a long-term realignment of the third force. The pattern will be that they will be led by larger parties and will be more stable with a third force as a strong force as well.

... India is a large and diverse country. You cannot have a homogeneous system. There will always be regional parties.

... (The Left) has a definite political agenda, installation of the Congress. At the party level they will fight both Congress and the BJP ... The position that the Left had taken was the correct position. The Left has also been fighting the Congress, but the political perception is that there should be a change. National issues put personal considerations in the background. Personal animosities have nothing to do with governance. The big parties in the future will be the Congress and the BJP but the Left will always be there and the regional parties ...

Coalition will always be there. But it will be a maturer coalition ... Coalition partners will learn that it doesn't pay to cause instability ....

This episode with a majority of one and the fact that an alternative government could be formed, does give a setback to the non-BJP formation. The argument is that there are conflicts within the Opposition ... But how long this disadvantage will last is questionable. Politics is a constantly changing scene. It is not like drawing a landscape, where there is a hill and it remains there. It's a cloudspace. After five minutes, it has changed, it has vanished and a new formation has emerged ...

The exile period is over. After my treatment, I will be a free man. I will keep my options open. And I don't think I have lost a lot in five years ... (Source: The Sunday, 9-15 May, 1999)