Vasundhara Raje, set to become the Rajasthan Chief Minister after her party's exceptional victory in the assembly polls, in her first interview after the victory said she wanted to make a lasting improvement in the quality of life in the state through sustainable growth and not through one-time freebies of a few hundred rupees before elections. Assembly Elections 2013: Full Coverage

Rajasthan CM-elect Vasundhara Raje. Photo by Diwakar Purushottam Rajasthan CM-elect Vasundhara Raje. Photo by Diwakar Purushottam

Excerpts from the interview with India Today Assistant Editor Rohit Parihar:Something on a loser (Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot) who never spared you even on personal front in past ten years? Want to run him down, mock at him?Graceful victors do not do it.After his defeat, Gehlot was talking about your "durgati" saying you needed Modi to win?Did not hear it and again, no comments please.. Did you expect winning 162 seats out of 199?Our candidates were confident of getting 150 seats but I told them to work hard instead of being over confident. I had hoped for crossing 125 seats and you had quoted me some months ago.Q. Who all contributed to your victory?. Elders, youth, women, party workers, our sister organisations, Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh and other national leaders and, anti-incumbency of Congress government in power.Any particular caste?People have voted for us irrespective of any caste factor. This is a vote against bad Congress government in Rajasthan. We transformed it into votes through our leaders, good candidates and hard work at grassroots level. (In Pics: The Return of Raje raj in Rajasthan The state finances are close to bankruptcy because of heavy debt, uncontrolled expenses and freebies. How will you work?.I took over in similar situation in 2003 and turn around the state's finances and power situation. It will be a big challenge again but let me thoroughly look into financial status first.Will you review most projects and policies and freebies of Congress government?I'm not a vindictive chief minister. My concern is to identify schemes that are bad per se, improve implementation and delivery where it can help and look into corrupt practices which have caused huge loss to the state. (Now in power, are you still against freebies?Let me state it on record: I want to make a lasting improvement in quality of life of people through sustainable growth and not one time freebie of a few hundred rupees before elections.You have to accommodate 161 MLAs. How will you do it?Every one will have some role in helping governance and strengthening the party. I have to strike a balance between experienced and young ones, first timers and those who are veterans.Will you bring some officers who worked with you in the past but are on deputation in Delhi back?Yes, but performance will be a crucial factor. It will be a continuous evaluation.Will you give importance to women in ministry and bureaucracy?Of course, whosoever deserves will get due. Personally, I encourage women to come forward and achieve greater heights in performance be as a mother or as an employee or a task manager. That doesn't mean that I will accommodate a bad female worker instead of a good male employee.The crime situation has been bad in Jaipur and elsewhere.That too is my priority. Also, there will be a conscious effort to improve atmosphere for women to work which had become so bad with ministers accused of rapes and murders.And what about grassroots corruption? There is bribe demanded for every genuine payment and even salary cheques?That has to be checked. It is extortion.. You are happy but not as thrilled as you should be for making a record in terms of percentage of seats won?Because I have to set right many wrongs and work to win all 25 seats in 2014 general elections. (What else are your priorities?Water for drinking and irrigation, generation of jobs, increasing production of power and its supply, find ways to improve revenue that can be spent on infrastructure. teachers in schools, doctors in hospitals, buses, improving work culture, encouraging innovations. There is lot to do.