When Atal Bihari Vajpayee rooted for Bhairon Singh Shekhawat

Atal Bihari Vajpayee had campaigned for Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in 1977 at Chipabarod. This was when Shekhawat had been made chief minister of Rajasthan for the first time but was not an MLA.

Elected MLA Prem Singh Singhvi had vacated his seat Chabra, in Baran district for him. During by-elections, Vajpayee had addressed a public rally at Chipabarod. He had also taken out a road show in an open jeep. Shekhawat had won the election. Vajpayee was then the foreign minister in Morarji Desai government.

Prem Singh Singhvi’s son Pratap Singh Singhvi is a BJP MLA. He was minister in Vasundhara Raje government formed in 2003.

BJP national vice-president Om Mathur said, “For 65 years Vajpayee Ji was active at all levels of politics. He was the harbinger of era of coalition government and broke the myth that no one but Congress can rule the nation.”

“Death of Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the end of soft spoken era in politics. He was the gentle hearted poet who took strong steps like nuclear tests for the nation,” he added.