Atal Behari Vajpayee, a veteran of possibly all political battles
in the country since 1947, is now the Prime Minister of India, who has
given the country its first big bomb. Heading the first-ever BJP led coalition
government, Mr Vajpayee's nuclear endeavour has hurled the country into
a sink or swim situation.
Probably one of the finest orators around, known for his instant wit and tremendous sense of humour, Vajpayee is respected for his experience as a parliamentarian. After leading the Lok Sabha election campaign of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) successfully, Atal has become the Prime Minister for the second time. His first tenure in 1996 was as brief as 13 days as the BJP could not prove its majority in the Lok Sabha to give way to a United Front government.
Vajpayee won the Lucknow parliamentary seat for the fourth timesince 1989, through the victory margin dropped by more than 50% in 1999 compared to 1998. The capital town of Uttar Pradesh backed Vajpayee to the hilt making him win against film maker Muzzaffar Ali, who was the Samajvadi Party (SP) candidate, by a margin of over 2.5 lakh votes in 1998. This time against Congress's Karan Singh, the margin was just 1.23 lak votes.
In his second stint, people look upon Atal to provide a stable government at the centre. With the Kargil war in the backdrop and economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. against India, Vajpai also has to concentrate on International relations and provide India with a sound economy.