What are points of discord between you and Chief Minister Kalyan Singh?

There are absolutely no differences between us. We have been working like a team. It's only the media which keeps on speculating on differences between the two of us.

AMEA number of party leaders, especially MLAs, MPs and ministers criticise Kalyan Singh for being inaccessible and autocratic. Do you receive such complaints?

Yes. Of course, some people do make such complaints. But that is natural considering sheer size of the State. No one can please all. Whenever I come across any such complaint, I try to solve the problem even with help of the State administration, if needed. I also tell such people not to go public with internal matters of the government and the party. If any such complaint is made public, I will take cognizance of it and take appropriate disciplinary action.

You have been quoted as criticising the chief minister and Kalyan Singh too has challenged you to remove him, if you can.

It's all the media's creation. I have never uttered a word against the chief minister. Kalyan Singh too has been all praise for my work in strengthening the party organisation. Only recently, Singh has praised me for constituting party units even at the village level across the State. Even a cadre-based party like the Congress which was in power for 50 years could never achieve this.

But the chief minister himself has doubted authenticity of these units. There are allegations that these units were constituted merely by picking names from the voters list?

I concede that party workers could not have visited all the villages because a large number of villages in UP are inaccessible. But each name which figures on the list of village-level office bearers of the party, is essentially a BJP member.

How many such units are there in UP?

There are 71,535 village and ward level units. I suppose party workers personally visited only 60 per cent of these.

Do you mean to say that 40 per cent village-level units of the BJP are fake, as is being alleged by your rivals?

I challenge if anybody can prove that even one unit constituted by me is fake. I have already started verification of all units and 30-per cent work has already been completed. I hope to finish the verification within a month.

The crime graph and extra-constitutional killings of criminals by the police are rising in UP...

The law and order situation in UP has drastically improved during the past couple of months. I am satisfied with the efforts put in by the Government to tackle crime. But I feel there is still scope for improvement on the law and order front.

Do you foresee yourself as Kalyan Singh's replacement? Isn't it true that you have been criticising Kalyan because you have been angling either to succeed him in UP or to be included in the Union Cabinet?

Kalyan Singh will be chief minister as long as he wishes. No one can replace him against his wishes. Of course, I will take whatever responsibility the party wants me to discharge, whether in UP or at the Centre.

How long will the UP government last since your allies have threatened to pull out if Hardwar is included in Uttaranchal?

We have absolutely no problem with allies. They of course, don't agree with our views on Hardwar but I hope we can sit together and resolve the issue amicably. I don't see any threat to our government. At least, not from the allies.