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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 - present | |
| Predecessor: | I. K. Gujral | |
| Successor: | (incumbent) | |
| Date of Birth: | December 25, 1924 | |
| Place of Birth: | Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh | |
| Political Party: | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
In 1951 he founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He first became a member of the Indian Parliament in 1957. In 1977 he joined the newly-formed Janata Party, a Hindu nationalist party. He served as the Foreign Minister in the government of Morarji Desai from 1977 to 1980. 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).
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 has never married, although he has an adopted daughter.