Vajpayee told reporters while celebrating Holi at his residence in Delhi that he was confident about the BJP's prospects in the key state of the Hindi heartland.
Joining other National Democratic Alliance leaders, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his "impolite" and "unbecoming conduct" with an alliance delegation on Wednesday.
The allusion is simple: Modi is the BJP in Gujarat. This encapsulates a paradigm shift in the way the BJP's internal politics is now being run.
Expressing serious concern over "two distinct voices" that have emerged "louder" after the Gujarat election, the prime minister said Hindutva was being projected by "some people in a narrow, rigid and extremist manner."
The prime minister also said BJP's rivals would not be able to cobble up a coalition despite making attempts.
The prolonged delay over electing J P Nadda's successor possibly stems from the RSS leadership wanting a person who is at least equidistant from the Sangh as well as the Modi/BJP edifice, observes BJP-RSS watcher Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Terming the prevailing situation in Uttar Pradesh as a "challenge", he said that the party must prepare itself to face it and restore the earlier position of the party in the state.
'Modi took to the dais and said he would like to step down as chief minister over the riots.' 'Immediately, people from several sides got up and said there was no need to do so.' 'Whether it was orchestrated or not, Shourie wasn't sure.' 'But, according to him, Vajpayee felt that it was a coup.'
The golden run of "Slumdog Millionaire" at the Oscars and A R Rahman's double win brought smiles on the face of ailing former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who watched the awards at the AIIMS' ICU and even gestured to the staff to have a look at the television.
The 93-year-old veteran politician, who died at 05.05 pm, was also put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support on his last day, they said.
The Pakistani prime minister in an interview with The Nation said he had no apprehensions about visiting India or to meet his Indian counterpart anywhere in the world.
Vajpayee had resigned just 13 days after being in power due to lack of numbers.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is seriously ill for the past two years, and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who did not canvas in the Bihar polls due to objections from ally Janata Dal-United, figure in the Bharatiya Janata Party's list of election campaigners.
As the din continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till noon. Similar scenes were witnessed in the House on Thursday leading to its adjournment for the day.
The paraglider was immediately rushed to a hospital in Manali, where she was declared dead, officials added.
BJP president Venkaiah Naidu appeared to have ruffled a few feathers by saying that the party would project both Vajpayee and Advani in forthcoming elections.
This comes on the eve of the crucial Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Board meeting on Sunday.
The prime minister would hold summit level talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Share your thoughts on the PM's contribution to the change in India's outlook.
He said even Vishwa Hindu Parishad had openly said if anyone was to be blamed for the BJP's defeat it was Vajpayee.
Alleging deterioration in the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, Vajpayee had asked BJP workers to carry out a "decisive" agitation to throw out the Samajwadi Party government.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among the first to reach the BJP patriarch's 7-Krishna Menon Marg residence to wish him. Senior party L K Advani had called on Vajpayee on Monday evening to wish him as he had to go to Gandhinagar in Gujarat to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as Chief Minister.
Isak Swu and T Muivah had a one-hour meeting with the former prime minister at his residence.
The decision appears to have been taken in view of the likely dissolution of Lok Sabha in the first week of next month.
'The NDA leaders expressed total confidence in the prime minister's wisdom in deciding the dates for the polls,' George Fernandes said.
The issue gains importance in view of the recent attempt on the life of President Gen Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad.
The Congress on Monday gave a clean chit to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and spiritual preacher Deoraha Baba, whose names figure in the list of those found culpable by the Liberhan Commission, for the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. "Vajpayee's name was not in the conspiracy (to demolish Babri mosque). His name was only in one of the lists," Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said.
According his new year greetings to the country from Goa, the prime minister touched upon Hindutva, saying it is liberating and brooks no ill will, hatred or violence among different communities on any ground.
"It would not be proper for Vajpayeeji to contest and lose. Any other nominee would feel that he contested and lost," Vijay Kumar Malhotra, deputy leader of BJP said in an informal chat with this correspondent.
The Indian prime minister said end of cross-border terrorism and dismantling of terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan will create the atmosphere for talks.
The prime minister was accompanied by three Union ministers C P Thakur, Bijoya Chakraborty and Ashok Pradhan.
Rehman had suggested that the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration could be the basis for normalisation of Indo-Pak ties.
His observations came as news reports spoke of Modi, the Hindutva icon, being angry with Singh's decision.
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