Atal Bihari Vajpayee once rejected offer to become President: Former PM's aide

He felt that a popular leader, who is the president or prime minister through a mandate, sets a very wrong precedent by using this mandate to become the President of India.

Former journalist and political commentator, Ashok Tandon, in his book In Atal Sansmaran, recalls several anecdotes from his period as the media officer at the Vajpayee PMO, including the time Sonia Gandhi called Atal Bihari Vajpayee to check on him after the Parliament attack.

Edited excerpts from and interview with DH’s Amrita Madhukalya. 

In the book, you recall a time when Vajpayee’s 13-month-old government fell and there was the idea floating around that a different NDA government be formed without Vajpayee at the helm, but Mamata Banerjee and MDMK’s Vaiko had objected. Can you take us through the details?

After the government fell by one vote, there were efforts to have an alternative government by the Opposition. But within the NDA, too, there were murmurs that if the third front government could replace Devegowda with IK Gujaral and stake claim, why can’t the NDA do the same – replace the leader and also in the process get support from some smaller parties. I’m not very sure who initiated the move but there certainly was a move; NDA partners were contacted. Mamata Banerjee was then part of the NDA. She opposed it, along with MDMK’s Vaiko who was also part of the NDA. Both of them opposed it tooth and nail. And Navin Patnaik, who was also part of the NDA then, supported these two leaders.

You have also written that during this time, Sonia Gandhi had the opportunity to stake a claim to form a government. But she was not successful and felt betrayed at that point by CPI(M) leader Harishan Singh Surjit. Please tell us more. 

She did go to the President and stake claim, and said she has the support of 272 MPs and more will be coming. After meeting the President, she spoke to the media. On the one side she was being encouraged to form an alternative Congress-led government supported by other parties, but (former Samajwadi Party supremo) Mulayam Singh Yadav very vocally said that Gandhi is not acceptable to us. The move was scuttled. What I have written is that in the background, the mastermind was Mr. Harkishan Singh Surjit. He had, in fact, first initiated the move with Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to topple the Vajpayee government which they did. Then he encouraged Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to stake claim to form the government, as they had the support. But behind the scene, it was he who was prompting Mulyam Singh Yadav and others not to support Sonia Gandhi. Now when she came to know about it she really felt betrayed and I quoted IK Gujaral from his book, who said that he had cautioned Sonia Gandhi to not trust these people. But ultimately, she was betrayed and took a firm stand that she will accept only a Congress-led alternative government. This is exactly why no alternative government could be formed and Vajpayee continued as caretaker prime minister and the country faced another poll and he returned with a majority and ruled for the next 5 years. 

One of the book’s revelations is that Vajpayee was in contention for the post of the President. Can you please elaborate?

The NDA had to choose a President and talks were going, so was the speculation and many names were floating around. There was a suggestion from within the BJP that they should have their own man and a proposal was initiated that Vajpayee be made the President of India. He declined this offer and opposed the move. What is relevant is that he felt that in Indian Parliamentary democracy, a popular leader who is the president or prime minister through a mandate, sets a very wrong precedent by using this mandate to become the President of India. The President of India under the Constitution has to act on the aid and advice of the Cabinet. Now if a popular and powerful leader becomes the President, then he cannot control himself or function within the parameters of the Constitution because he’s a popular leader. The president is elected through an electoral college. That means he is not a popular leader elected by the mandate of the people. 

During the Parliament attack, one of the calls that Sonia made was to Vajpayee. Please give us more details. 

During this attack, when the prime minister was watching our security operations on television, Sonia Gandhi’s call came and she inquired about the well-being of the prime minister. Atal ji said that he was at his residence but was worried about her in return. So this was the kind of relationship which the prime minister had with the leader of the opposition and I think it is a significant gesture. 

Can you also give us a bit of details about Atal’s relationship with Opposition leaders?

I can give you only two instances. One is his relation or equation with the former president R Venkat Raman. It was Atal ji’s birthday on December 25th and suddenly the message came that Venkat Raman was coming to wish him on his birthday. All of us were a bit surprised, as he was 98 at that time and was not keeping good health. When we received him, he came out of the car with the help of two assistants and came and congratulated Atal ji. 

One more anecdote is when Mr Somnath Chatterjee, the veteran CPM leader, was made the speaker of the Lok Sabha, he visited Vajpayee ji, a former prime minister. Vajpayee ji congratulated him and in reply, Chatterjee said, “Sir, I have been kicked up by my own party”. Can you imagine a veteran CPM leader sharing his state of mind with a BJP former prime minister? Now that kind of equation he enjoyed with so many leaders.