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IN a provocative one-to-one interview with The DayAfter Editor-in-Chief Sunil Dang, the one and the only Laloo Yadav of Bihar, who had campaigned for the Congress in Delhi, the only state where Congress came out winner, made a stunning promise. He promised that he would bring in a new Government at the Centre eventually with a new woman Prime Minister - Sonia Gandhi.

Laloo Yadav was the 13th and the last political celebrity to be interviewed by Sunil Dang for Doordarshan National Network in the Aaj Ki Lok Vani series which included controversial political news-makers across the current political Matrix like BJP’s Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Abhishek Singhvi of the Congress and Jagdish Tytler of the Congress. This focus episode is based on the last Aaj Ki Lok Vani episode.

In reply to a question, "Till yesterday you were considered a political king-maker, now it seems you have adopted the role of a queen-maker. Why?", Laloo said he believed firmly in woman-power.

Having installed Rabri Devi as the Chief Minister of Bihar, he had campaigned for the Congress in Delhi in order to ensure the victory of Congress Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. He said he would install his own Prime Minister at the Centre - Sonia Gandhi.

He said women had Lok Laj, respect for socially appropriate behaviour. Even if some politicians sought to block their proper representation in the Lok Sabha, they were proving one after another the importance of woman-power in politics. He firmly supported the movement for greater share of woman-power in politics and other spheres of life.

Laloo, without naming Mulayam Singh, Harkishen Singh Surjeet and others, went hammer and tongs for those who claimed to be secular persons representing secular parties and called them "dreamy bazz" or frauds.

He hit the nail on the head when asked why people listen to him even when his utterances are so frontal, brutal and provocative. He said, "I have always been close to the people. They listen to me because I speak their language and I speak for them, I am a man with my feet firmly on the ground"

He was against turning politics into a Bollywood extension. Commenting on the film stars campaigning for various political parties, he said, "If these netas want to be abhinetas, they better go to Bollywood themselves and leave the serious business of politics to serious and dedicated politicians."

Laloo was against induction of film stars into Rajya Sabha with so many pied pipers in the pipeline to gain entry into the House of Elders. In Lok Sabha anyone could fight election and represent people on his or her own right. But dignity of the Upper House should not be lowered by opening it to Bollywood characters. That was the thrust of his views.

He was quite acidic on what he considered the new road politics which was creeping into the Centre-State relations. He said over the years there never was a question who built the roads, the state government or the Centre, as long as the roads were built for the people.

About a deliberate campaign against Bihar and its youth in Assam and elsewhere, he said, "There is no dearth of jobs in Bihar. The Bihari youth go to other places in search of better job opportunities. What is wrong in that?"