New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had wanted then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to take over as the country’s President in 2002. This has been mentioned by Ashok Tandon, Vajpayee’s media advisor, in his book Atal Sansmaran.
The BJP has wanted Vajpayee to hand over the prime ministership to Lal Krishna Advani and move to Rashtrapati Bhavan. However, Vajpayee had refused to do so, as reported by PTI.
Vajpayee had refused, stating that his becoming President by virtue of his majority would set a wrong precedent. It was after this refusal that the BJP proposed the name of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam as President..
Kalam went on to be elected the 11th President in 2002 with the support of both, then ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Opposition. He served in this position until 2007.
“Vajpayee was not ready for this. He believed that for any popular prime minister, becoming President by virtue of majority would not be a good sign for Indian parliamentary democracy. It would set a very wrong precedent, and he would be the last person to support such a move,” Tandon, who served as the ex-prime minister’s media advisor from 1998 to 2004, wrote.
He went on to write that Vajpayee invited leaders of the main opposition party, the Congress, so that a consensus could be built for the post of President.
“I remember that Sonia Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee, and Dr Manmohan Singh came to meet him. Vajpayee officially revealed for the first time that the NDA had decided to nominate Dr APJ Abdul Kalam as their candidate for the presidential election… There was a moment of silence in the meeting. Then Sonia Gandhi broke the silence and said that they were surprised by his choice, and that they had no option but to support him, but they would discuss his proposal and then make a decision,” he says.
Tandon goes on to relate many other events that took place during Vajpayee’s tenure as prime minister and about Vajpayee’s relationships with several leaders.
He writes that despite differences on some policy issues, the relationship between Vajpayee and Advani never soured publicly.
Advani always referred to Atalji as “my leader and source of inspiration,” and Vajpayee, in turn, addressed him as his “steadfast companion”, Tandon mentions.
“The partnership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani has been a symbol of cooperation and balance in Indian politics. They not only built the BJP but also gave a new direction to both the party and the government,” he writes.
Tandon goes on to mention a telephonic conversation between Vajpayee and then Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sonia Gandhi after the 2021 Parliament Attack.
Vajpayee was at his residence and watching the security forces’ operation on television with his colleagues on the day of the terror strike.
“Suddenly, Congress President Sonia Gandhi called. She said, ‘I’m worried about you, are you safe?’ To this, Atalji replied, ‘Sonia ji, I am safe, I was worried that you might be in the Parliament building… Take care of yourself”, Tandon writes.
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