After two years in the political wilderness, the BJP under the umbrella of the National Democratic Alliance ( a BJP-led coalition ), again came to power with Vajpayee as PM in March 1998, when elections were called after India saw two unstable Governments headed by H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral respectively.

After the collapse of the Vajpayee government, Bakht became The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha once again.

In 1998 Vajpayee was again appointed Prime Minister and Bakht was appointed Industry Minister.

After Vajpayee became Prime Minister again two years later, he became Minister for External Affairs of India, serving from December 5, 1998 until July 1, 2002.

But due to the differences between SP and the Communists in April, 1999 over supporting Congress in forming a government after the defeat of the Vajpayee government in the trust vote, WBSP was resurrected once again.

In 1998 Barnala was again elected to Parliament and became Chemical Fertlizers Food and Consumer Affairs in the Vajpayee Cabinate

The Historic Vision Document on the future course of relations between the two countries was signed by Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Clinton during the visit.

Under the Vajpayee government, the defence relations between India and Russia saw a new rebound with the signing of several key military deals such as the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, T-90 | T-90S Bhishma, INS Vikramaditya | INS Vikramaditya and the Sukhoi / HAL FGFA.

* 15 January-In a sign of improving relations, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee meets with the visiting chairman of China's National People's Congress, Li Peng.

* 2 February-An unprecedented telephone conversation between Prime Minister Vajpayee and Pakistani military leader General Pervez Musharraf is hailed as a major step in relations between the two countries.

* 17 July-Hopes for a new era in Indo-Pakistani relations are disappointed when the summit between Prime Minister Vajpayee and newly appointed Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf fails to make progress on the Kashmir issue and ends without agreement.

However, the party does not receive an overall majority and Vajpayee resigns 13 days later rather than face a no confidence vote, and is replaced by the United Front, led Deve Gowda.

Vajpayee promoted pro-business, free market reforms to reinvigorate India's economic transformation and expansion that were started by the former PM Narasimha Rao but stalled after 1996 due to unstable governments and the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Vajpayee was criticized within his party and by the Sangh Parivar for sacrificing core issues like Hindutva and the Ram Temple to please the Muslim voters ( the BJP lost the Muslim vote by a heavy margin ).

In a famous statement at the BJP's silver Jubilee rally at Mumbai's historic Shivaji Park, Vajpayee announced that " Henceforth, Lal Krishna Advani and Pramod Mahajan will be the Ram-Laxman ( the two godly brothers much revered and worshipped by Hindus ) of the BJP.

Vajpayee was referred to as the Bhishma Pitamah of Indian Politics by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh during his speech in the Rajya Sabha.

Narayanan suggested to Vajpayee that the Rajya Sabha be convened to discuss the conflict, as demanded by several opposition parties ( citing the precedent of Nehru convening a parliamentary session on Vajpayee's demand during the Sino-Indian war in 1962 ) though there was no precedent of convening the Rajya Sabha in isolation during an interregnum.

Vajpayee and his economic team, led by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, continuing the policies initiated by the previous Congress government under P. V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh, pushed through major privatizations of big government corporations, the liberalization of trade under World Trade Organization guidelines, airline deregulation, foreign investment and ownership and allowed private companies such as Mahindra World City and Reliance to build Special Economic Zones where property developers could build new cities with world-class infrastructure for factories that export products.

In November 2001, Swami Dayananda convened the first World Congress for the Preservation of Religious Diversity in Delhi, inaugurated by the Dalai Lama and the then Prime Minister Mr. A. B. Vajpayee.

* 12 February-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee sacks the government of Bihar, which is run by an opposition party, and imposes federal rule.

* 23 February-At the end of a ground-breaking visit to Pakistan by Prime Minister Vajpayee, the two countries agree to work harder on their Kashmir dispute and announce steps to defuse tension and reduce risk of nuclear war.

* Late December-Relations with Pakistan are damaged when Prime Minister Vajpayee accuses the Pakistani authorities of being behind threats made by the extremist Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Toiba against his own person.

However, the party does not receive an overall majority and Vajpayee resigns thirteen days later rather than face a no confidence vote, and is replaced by the United Front, led Deve Gowda.

The former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, mentioned the movie as an example for ignorance by Kerala towards global economic changes during the inauguration of Global Investor Meet held at Kochi on 18 January 2003.

Prime Minister Morarji Desai and the Minister of External Affairs Atal Bihari Vajpayee began significant changes in India's foreign policy, moving away from the course adopted by Indira's government.

He is the only composer and singer to have composed and recorded songs written by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee — also a critically acclaimed poet — in two albums, Nayi Disha ( 1999 ) and Samvedna ( 2002 ).

He became The Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs in 1996 in the Government of India led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

During Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee arrival at Lahore Jamaat protest and thousands of workers was arrested by the police.

Re – elected in 1999 and inducted as a Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Rudy subsequently became Civil Aviation Minister with an independent charge in the National Democratic Alliance government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

It was created on January 4, 2003 by Vajpayee Government. Air Marshal Teja Mohan Asthana became its first commander-in-chief.

In February 2003 it was renamed to Kalpana-1 by the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in memory of Kalpana Chawla – a NASA astronaut of Indian origin who perished in Space Shuttle Columbia.

* Late July-Prime Minister Vajpayee accepts the invitation from Pakistani President Musharraf to travel to Pakistan for a second round of bilateral talks.

* 8 October-Despite increased tensions after attacks in Kashmir, Prime Minister Vajpayee and Pakistani President Musharraf agree to cooperate against international terrorism in a rare telephone conversation.

During his visit to India, then Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had suggested to the then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that the house be given to Pakistan so that it could be turned into a consulate.

During this period, Vajpayee remained at the centre-stage as party President and Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament.

On 26 July 2012, marked as the ` Kargil Vijay Diwas ', Nitin Gadkari, BJP President unveiled in Mumbai a wax statue of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was the Prime Minister at the time of Kargil war.

A. B. Vajpayee meeting President Bush in the White House in 2001

But accepting him as the President of Pakistan, Vajpayee chose to move forward.

And then the BJP President Venkaiah Naidu used mythological references to depict Vajpayee as Vikas Purush ( Man of Progress ) and Advani as Loh Purush ( Man of Steel ).

One of the coalition partners supporting the minority government ( the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam under J. Jayalalithaa ) wrote a letter to the President withdrawing support on 14 April 1999, and Narayanan advised Vajpayee to seek a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha.

President Narayanan returned for reconsideration the advices from the Union cabinet to impose President's rule in a state, in accordance with Article 356, in two instances: one from the Gujral government ( 22 October 1997 ) seeking to dismiss the Kalyan Singh government in Uttar Pradesh, and the other from the Vajpayee government ( 25 September 1998 ) seeking to dismiss the Rabri Devi government in Bihar.

In 1980, the leaders and workers who were associated with the former Bharatiya Jana Sangh, founded the Bharatiya Janata Party with Vajpayee as its first President.

During this period, Vajpayee remained center-stage as party President and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, but increasingly hard-line Hindu nationalists began to rise within the party and define its politics.

Former Prime Minister of India and BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2000.

* 3 October-Prime Minister Vajpayee signs a bilateral agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to increase ties between the two countries including cooperation on issues of defense.

* 3 – 5 December – Russian President Vladimir Putin visits India, holding talks with Prime Minister Vajpayee and other senior ministers.

* 24 September-United States President George W. Bush invites Vajpayee to lunch in New York during Vajpayee's US trip.

During his visit to India, President Pervez Musharraf had renewed Pakistan's claim to the house which the president had suggested to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee should be given to Pakistan so that it could be turned into a consulate.

* 15 – 18 October – Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa, hold bilateral talks with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India while on a state visit to India

She has covered world events such as the Agra Summit between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, the conflict in the Middle East, the trial of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milošević, the September 11 attacks, the Hajj and the war in Iraq.

President of the United States Barack Obama receives a red shawl from a Hindu priest from Sri Siva Vishnu Temple in Lanham, Maryland ( October 2009 ) A joint session of the United States Congress was opened with a prayer in Sanskrit ( with some Hindi and English added ), read by Venkatachalapathi Samudrala, in September 2000, to honour the visit of Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.