Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Behari Vajpayee Prime Minister of India
First Term:	May 16, 1996 - June 1, 1996
Predecessor:	P. V. Narasimha Rao
Successor:	H. D. Deve Gowda
Second Term:	March 19, 1998 - present
Predecessor:	I. K. Gujral
Successor:	(incumbent)
Date of Birth:	December 25, 1924
Place of Birth:	Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh
Political Party:	Bharatiya Janata Party

In 1951 he founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He first became a member of the Indian Parliament in 1957. In 1977 he joined the newly-formed Janata Party, a Hindu nationalist party. He served as the Foreign Minister in the government of Morarji Desai from 1977 to 1980. In 1980 he left the Janata Party, part of a contingent dissatisfied with the progress of the Janata Party towards their goals, and helped form the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He became Prime Minister for the first time in 1996 as a member of the BJP and headed a short-lived 13-day government. He became Prime Minister for the second time in 1998, and he was re-elected on October 13, 1999, at the head of a coalition government controlled by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), of which the BJP was a major component.

He is well-known for being a poet, and has published a book of poetry. He has never married, although he has an adopted daughter.

External link

• Prime Minister's Office

Referenced By