I could never muster the courage to speak to girls in my college in Pune. Most of them were Parsis and spoke English. I came from a village and could barely converse in English.

I didn't speak English until I came to Pittsburgh.

I entered politics in 1967; since then, continuously, I am getting elected... Fortunately I never lost the elections.

In 1978, when I was a non-Congress chief minister, we distributed surplus wheat among labourers. Later, when we visited a village, I asked a labourer whether he knew who sent the wheat. 'Yes, Indiraji - only Indiraji helps the poor.' Indiraji was a symbol for the weaker sections.

I believe in decentralized democracy.

Whether some may like it or not, I am still the farmer that I was born as and will continue to be one.