Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Born on December 25, 1924 at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh to Shri Krishna Bihari Vajpayee and Smt. Krishna Devi, he took active part in the freedom struggle. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1957. He was elected to the 5th, 6th and 7th Lok Sabha and again to the 10th, 11th and 12th. He has been the member of Rajya Sabha in 1962 and 1986. He has again been elected to Parliament from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh for the fourth time consecutively. He is the only parliamentarian elected from four different States at different times namely - UP, Gujarat, MP and Delhi.

He is the elected leader of the National Democratic Alliance, a coalition of parties from different regions of the country. It enjoys a comfortable backing and support of the elected Members of the 13th Lok Sabha.

He was Leader of the Opposition during 11th Lok Sabha. Earlier to that, he was India's External Affairs Minister in the Morarji Desai Government from March 24, 1977 to July 28, 1979. He is a widely respected person nationally as well as internationally. He is known for successful handling of very sensitive international and cross border issues.

Shri Vajpayee has served on a number of important Committees of Parliament:
- Chairman, Committee on Government Assurances (1966-67);
- Chairman, Public Accounts Committee (1967-70);
- Member, General Purposes Committee (1986);
- Member, House Committee and Business Advisory Committee, Rajya Sabha (1988-90);
- Chairman, Committee on Petitions, Rajya Sabha (1990-91);
- Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, Lok Sabha (1991-93);
- Chairman, Standing Committee on External Affairs (1993-96).

Shri Vajpayee was conferred Padma Vibhushan in 1992 for his services to the nation. He was also conferred the Lokmanya Tilak Puruskar and the Bharat Ratna Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant Award for the Best Parliamentarian in 1994.

One of India's best Parliamentarians, Vajpayee is an orator par excellence, a fact proved by his soaring popularity ratings after every televised speech in Parliament. He has the rare ability to hold an audience in rapt attention with his witty comments and one - liners.

Vajpayee's tenure as PM will be remembered for the astronomical rise in the prices of vegetables, especially onions, his quibbles with Jayalalitha, the Pokhran II explosion, the rise of intolerance in society and the Kargil war.

By becoming the PM, he fulfilled Jawaharlal Nehru's prophesy that he would become Prime Minister -not once, but twice!

Major Achievements as Prime Minister of India
- Nuclear tests at Pokharan in May 1998.
- The bus journey to Pakistan in February 1999 to resolve cross border issues
- Successful handling of Kargil war
- Increase of foreign exchange reserve
- Strengthening of rural economy