‘The uncompromising patriot’: Shakti Sinha on working closely with Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Hindustan TimesIt must have been November or early December 1970 at Ranchi that I first saw and heard Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In this May 11, 1998, file photo former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announces India's nuclear test, in New Delhi. Updates: ‘Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death marks end of an era,’ says PM Modi Just as Vajpayee began to speak, it started drizzling. Watch: Remembering Atal Bihari Vajpayee: Poet, politician and statesman I realised this in full measure when I started working for him on 13 May 1996 when he became the Prime Minister, the head of a government whose days were numbered even as he was being sworn in. Read: Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s deft foreign policy helped forge stronger relationships I still remember the meeting held at 7 Race Course Road after the famous July 4 statements of Bill Clinton and Nawaz Sharif, where the latter agreed that the Pakistani army would withdraw from the Kargil heights.