On May 16, 1996, Atalji took oath as the Prime Minister for the first time.
PV Narasimha Rao was the PM and the government was Congress That is, in the meanwhile the general elections were announced. This was the period of 1996. The same period when scams were the most talked about in the country. Congress government And PM Rao So he was facing allegations of scams. Many opposition leaders were also trapped in these scams. The Congress was facing internal disunity due to the defection of Arjun Singh and Narayan Dutt Tiwari. In such a situation, the country was looking for such an alternative which would not only handle the power of the country but also beautify it.
By then the Bharatiya Janata Party had given a direction to its politics with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. The hero of this movement was LK Advani and the hero of the party was Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The same Atal Bihari Vajpayee who became the vehicle of change which was needed by the people of the country. Of course the mandate was hung, but the Bharatiya Janata Party staked claim to form the government and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as the country’s 10th Prime Minister on this day i.e. 16 May 1996. This government lasted for 13 days, let us know how Atal ji was elected for the post of PM, while LK Advani was the face of BJP at that time.
Advani’s mistake or masterstroke?
Before knowing the story of Atal ji becoming the PM, we have to go back a few months from May 16, 1996. In fact, in 1995, a two-day national convention of BJP was held at Dadar Maidan in Mumbai. On November 12, on the second day of the convention, it was announced that LK Advani would now take over the command of the BJP in place of Murli Manohar Joshi. At that time Advani was the face of BJP.
The Ram Janmabhoomi movement had given him a different identity. When Advani was about to address, he suddenly said that… now it is Atal Bihari… That is, Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be the face of BJP in the 1996 elections. After this, Atal Bihari Vajpayee denied this, then Advani had said that I have announced this as the president, now it cannot be changed. Makhan Lal Potedar, a Congress leader and said to be a Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist, claimed that the suggestion was his. Which he gave to BJP MP KL Sharma. He has mentioned this in his book.
read this also : When Atal ji said to the children – Your maternal uncle’s job is no more
When Atal ji claimed to form the government
Elections were held in 1996 amid widespread discontent in the country, but the mandate remained unclear. Parliament remained hung, but the BJP emerged as the single largest party. The party got 161 seats. The party was too far away to get a majority. This result was the worst result for Congress in history. Eventually the then President Shankar Dayal Sharma invited the BJP to form the government.
May 16 was fixed for swearing in and the country got the 10th PM of the country in the form of Atal ji. After taking the oath, Atalji was given time to prove his majority within two weeks. Atal Bihari Vajpayee invited many regional parties of the country to come on one platform. asked for support The conversation progressed in a positive phase. The government ran for 13 days, but Atal ji could not muster a majority. Eventually he accepted this in the Parliament and resigned.
Janata Dal government formed again
The second largest party in the country was the Congress, but it did not try to form the government. Then the Janata Dal emerged as the Third Front United Front with the support of many parties and HD Deve Gowda became the PM. When majority became a problem, he too resigned and IK Gujarat was made the PM. After 11 months, he too had to resign and elections were held again in 1998. This time the BJP got more seats and the country got a coalition government and Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the PM once again.
Brief political journey of Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of the founders of the Jana Sangh, contested his first election for the Lok Sabha in 1952, but did not win. He became a Lok Sabha MP for the first time in 1557 and remained an MP for 12 times in his lifetime. Till the establishment of the Janata Party, he remained the leader of the parliamentary party of the Jana Sangh. Morarji was the foreign minister in Desai’s cabinet. Dissatisfied, he founded the BJP in 1980. Became the PM of the country in 1996, 1998 and 1999. He retired from politics after being defeated in the 2004 elections.
