A member of the Delhi legislative assembly for three terms and a former speaker of the same legislative assembly, Ajay Maken had defeated Jagmohan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), by garnering 52.04 per cent of the votes polled to enter the Lok Sabha in the 14th general elections (2004). Squeezing out time from his current hectic election campaign, he spoke to this citizen journalist (CJ) on various issues that would play roles in deciding the prospects of the Congress in the general elections of 2009. Following is the transcript of the interview.

 

 

A: Yes, the Congress in any case is going to get much more than what it got last time.

 

 

A: In Delhi we will win 7-0. In Delhi, we won 6-1 last time and this time we would make it 7-0.

 

 

A: Because we have much better candidates this time as compared to last time, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not have good candidates to contest us this time.

 

 

A: Anti-incumbency over the past five years has proved to be beneficial or a boon for the candidates in elections anywhere. Majority of the elections, at least in the last three to four years, have not witnessed any such thing as anti-incumbency. Rather, the incumbent governments have gained from it.

 

 

A: A progressive government that believes in development and the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh: these two or three things have caught the imagination of the people and people want to vote for the Congress this time on these issues.

 

 

A: Terrorism will prove to have a favourable impact on the Congress because people want an honest and stable government. And somehow people feel that only the Congress will be able to provide a better government….

 

 

A: Yes…A better government that will be able to handle everything effectively… including terrorism, including economic crisis… everything.