Eyebrows were raised when Jaswant Singh chose to fight the Lok Sabha elections from Darjeeling instead of his home-state Rajasthan. But in less than a month, the BJP leader has made this hilly terrain home. Nattily dressed in Gorkha attire, Singh talked to MiD DAY Delhi's Chief Reporter Amit Kumar on issues ranging from the Kandahar controversy to Varun Gandhi's hate speech on his way to Darjeeling from Siliguri

Let me ask you something you have been asked many times before. But since it's still an issue, especially during election time, would you accept that Kandahar was a mistake?
We had to choose between two unwanted options. The NDA government decided to save the lives of 150 passengers on board the hijacked plane. I must make it clear that members of the Congress party who have been blaming the NDA government for Kandahar were protesting in front of 7, Race Course Road (the Prime Minister's residence) seeking the release of the hijacked passengers. Manmohan Singh, on behalf of the Congress, had attended the all-party meet over the issue where the decision was taken.

But because of Kandahar, the Congress today is making fun of your election slogan 'strong leader, decisive government'.
I want to ask the leaders of the Congress party, if they were in power at that time what would they have done? Is it right to raise the same issue repeatedly? I can also raise issues of Rubiya Syed and Char-e-Sharif, when the Congress had served them (terrorists) chicken dishes for a week and offered them free passages. Now the Prime Minister is saying he will revive the economy of the country in the next 100 days after coming into power. I want to ask him was he sleeping during the last 100 days?