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Journalism of Courage
Outgoing Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has made up his mind. He will not be the Leader of Opposition in the 14th Lok Sabha, a responsibility that will now be L K Advani’s.
Sources said Vajpayee is inclined to be an ‘‘elder statesman’ rather than get involved in daily thrust and parry of Parliamentary politics. This means that Vajpayee will be the Chairman of the BJP Parliamentary Party and also head the NDA coalition.
However, sources said that Vajpayee will not go into semi-retirement like former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao or V P Singh but will be in ‘‘active politics.’’ Yet he does not want a role where he is involved in actively attacking the ruling Congress-led coalition but someone who gives broad strategic directions to the BJP.
Sources said Vajpayee’s silence over the campaign against Sonia Gandhi’s ‘‘foreign origin’’ is an indication of his preference to avoid making any direct political statements. He is said to have disapproved of the posturing done by Sushma Swaraj and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharati. However, sources said, he left it to Advani to tackle the issue but the latter also adopted a policy of ‘‘wait and watch’’ rather than intervention.
It is learnt that Vajpayee feels that Uma, Sushma and other BJP leaders went overboard on the ‘‘foreigner issue.’’
Political circles are also abuzz with the fact that neither did Vajpayee call and congratulate Sonia Gandhi on being elected as Congress’s PM candidate on May 15 nor did Gandhi call him. But a senior party leader defended this move: ‘‘How could Vajpayee have greeted her even before she became the PM? He will, obviously, congratulate Manmohan Singh after the swearing-in ceremony.’’ Vajpayee has plans to stay at 7 Race Course Road for another month as his 8, Krishna Menon Marg residence is being done up. After all, Vajpayee moved to Race Course Road on May 11, 1998—the first Pokhran nuclear tests—after being sworn in on March 19, 1998.
