– Prime Minister, will you please seriously consider introducing presidential form of government in view of the facts (a) that the Congress is steadily losing its control in several states (b) that the Congress party seems unable to stem the emergence of powerful regional parties (c) that your personal image across the country would make it easier for you to administer the country as its President and (d) that a strong Centre seems essential for the preservation of unity and integrity of the country threatened by vicious forces within India and without?
This is Sumit Ghosh from Ananda Bazar.

Rajiv
Well, I think firstly the…. can I just keep it open against three different ones?
Well, the first one doesn’t seem to relate to the others at all. (Laughter)
We have a good President. I don’t know why you want to change him. (Laughter all round).
The Congress – well, it loses an election, it wins an election. Much has been made about the Congress losing the election in Punjab, yes, we lost the election. But we polled 37.85% of the polled votes.

The Akalis won the election and they polled 38.5% of the vote (Somebody in the conference: Hundred seats. They got it one hundred seats) for. .65% of the vote. That’s all. Congress hasn’t lost like I said after the election.
(Somebody: Entry is lost)
Rajiv
No, we lost the election. We have got the base. We are going to win the next elections as we are going to win in Andhra and Karnataka and West Bengal.
(Laughter all around.)

Rajiv
What is the other one? No, there were two more parts.
–that your personal image….

Rajiv
That I don’t need to answer.
– that a strong Centre……

Rajiv
We already have a strong Centre. I don’t see why we need more or different powers.

–Three questions are almost identical. I will read first the English one and then the Hindi one.– Says no other Prime Minister before you had received such encomiums from top oppositions leaders as you have, from leaders such as. Mr. N. T. Rama Rao and Mr. Hegde of Karnataka. How do you feel about it? Does it, in your opinion, augur a new relationship between the Congress and the opposition and between the centre and the states?
Along with it has come a Hindi question in which it says.
नीतियों की ज़ोरदार तारीफ़ के साथ जमकर आपकी माता स्‍वर्गीय प्रधानमंत्री श्रीमती इंदिरा गांधी की कटुतम आलोचना के बारे में आपका नज़रिया क्‍या है ?
Rajiv
Actually this is answering the earlier question you asked about where you said President’s rule in the states and centre pulling in different directions.
It just shows that we are pulling as a united India and that is what we set out to do. That’s what we are doing.