Atal Behari Vajpayee

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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
Predecessor:	I. K. Gujral
Successor:	(incumbent)
Date of Birth:	December 25, 1924
Place of Birth:	Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh
Political Party:	Bharatiya Janata Party

Atal Behari Vajpayee (also Bihari) (born December 25, 1924) is the current Prime Minister of India. He is a native of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh state and has been active in Indian politics throughout his life.

He was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh of which he was the president between 1968 and 1973. He was first elected to the Parliament of India in 1957 and was the leader of the Jana Sangh political party upto the formation of the Janata Party in 1977. He served as the Foreign Minister in the government of Morarji Desai from March 1977 to July 1979. 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), a Hindu nationalist party. He was leader of the BJP parliamentary party between 1980 and 1984, 1986 and between 1993 and 1996. He was the leader of the Opposition in the 11th Lok Sabha.

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. Secular allies in the coalition forced the BJP to moderate its Hindu nationalism, and in February 2004 Vajpayee even began reaching out to woo Muslims into the party. At the same time, Vajpayee made peace overtures to Pakistan in hopes of settling their long-running dispute over Kashmir.

He is well-known for being a poet, and has published a book of poetry. He is a bachelor, and has an adopted daughter. He is a follower of the guru Sathya Sai Baba and has even written a public letter in defense of the controversial miracle monger.

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Preceded by:
I. K. Gujral (second time)
P. V. Narasimha Rao (first time)

Prime Ministers of India