Asked about Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal expressing his wish to see Jaitley as Deputy Prime Minister, the senior BJP leader replied: “I am not in the race for any post. Badal Saheb is holding a high post. It is his way of patting someone's back. ..I feel we are very close to forming the government.”
Asked whether there was any possibility of him becoming the PM as per Plan B of BJP, Jaitley replied: “There is nothing called Plan B. Earlier, people used to say, we would get 160 seats. Then they said, it could be 200. The opinion polls began giving us 200 seats. Now the latest is, somebody project 226 seats for us and nearly 50 for our allies. That means, we will cross the 272 target.
“It is no more a question of politics, but mathematics. Our alliance may get between 250 to 300 seats”, he sadded.
Asked which post he would prefer in the new government, Jaitley sidestepped the question and remarked: “When one joins a political party, one loses his or her autonomy. You have to accept what the party decides. If it does justice to you, you accept it, if it does not do justice, you smilingly accept it. I will accept whatever responsibility that is given to me.”
