Political Career

He became associated with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), a right wing political party founded by Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951. He became a loyal follower of Mookerjee and supported him during his fast unto death in Kashmir in 1954.Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from Balrampur (U.P.) in 1957. He proved himself to be an excellent orator and gave powerful speeches.He was made the national president of the Jana Sangh in 1968 after the death of Deendayal Upadhyaya. Over the next few years he worked tirelessly with Nanaji Deshmukh, Balraj Madhok and Lal Krishna Advani to make the Jana Sangh a prominent presence in Indian politics.In 1977, the BJS was united with the Bharatiya Lok Dal and the Socialist Party to form the Janata Party. After the victory of the Janata Party in the general elections, Vajpayee became the Minister of External Affairs in Prime Minister Morarji Desais government.The Janata Party was dissolved following Morarji Desais resignation as Prime Minister in 1979. Vajpayee, in collaboration with Lal Krishna Advani and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat formed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980 and became the partys first president.

After the 1984 elections, when BJP was reduced to two seats, Vajpayee worked tirelessly to build the party and in the next parliamentary elections in 1989 BJP won 88 seats.By 1991, BJP had emerged as the principal opposition party and the party won 120 seats in 1991 parliamentary elections.He became the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament in 1993 and in November 1995 at a BJP conference in Mumbai, he was declared as the Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP.