Vajpayee back to lead NDA from the front

It took some time, but the winter session of Parliament saw former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee shed the stupor of defeat in the May 2004 general elections to roar again, and lead his dispersed party to a position where they caused serious embarrassment to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

His target may have, apparently, been Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, but Vajpayee proved a point or two aga-inst his detractors who had written him off.

The first two sessions of the 14th Lok Sabha saw a listless Vajpayee sitting in the back row of the Opposition benches and quietly making his exit after question hour.

This winter the contrast was startling. Not only did he occupy a designated front row seat, but also took on the UPA government, using his famed oratory skills to provide an effective opposition as well as give the badly-needed leadership to his party.

According to senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, contemporaries of both Vajpayee and party chief LK Advani, the reason has as much to do with Advani's nature as it is of Vajpayee.

"You will notice that both the days when Vajpayee took charge, it was to directly attack Prasad. Now, Prasad is raking up Advani's personal affairs, inside and outside Parliament," said the leader.

"The kind of person that Advani is, he withdrew when this happened. He is not the kind who would like to defend his personal affairs in public, which is why he took a back seat, forcing Vajpayee to take charge of the party in Parliament," he added.

In fact, the first time Vajpayee took on Prasad after the Hoshiarpur train accident, the railway minister had to rush to Parliament from Jehanabad, as the former Prime Minister demanded that the House be adjourned till a statement was made.

Emboldened by this, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rallied around Vajpayee, when he demanded Prasad's resignation in the Lok Sabha today after the Election Commission sent a notice to the minister.

According to a senior leader, Vajpayee with his poetic wit, and that unlike Advani, he has always been considered a "political insider" rather than a "hard-liner", can handle embarrassing situations and deflect the worst of criticism.

"Vajpayee's familiarity with the nuances of north Indian style of interaction makes him better equipped to deal with parties like the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Lok Jantantrik Party (LJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP)," said the leader.

When Raghunath Jha and Devendra Prasad Singh Yadav (both RJD) kept referring to the Lucknow sari stampede at a rally allegedly organised by BJP leader Lalji Tandon during the last Lok Sabha polls, Vajpayee ignored it.

Instead he used Prasad's own admission that he had given money to villagers to attend his, now cancelled rally to keep the RJD members quiet.

For those who had written off the former Prime Minister after he lost his chair in May, Vajpayee has proved that he still has some politics left in him. If not to be the Prime Minister again, then at least provide leadership to his seemingly rudderless party.