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Atal and Indira, what binds them together?

Anant Gaundalkar

Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Indira Gandhi, what do they have in common, besides the obvious?

Well, Vajpayee and Indira are the only prime ministers who have occupied the hot seat on two separate occasions. None of the other 10, to date, could make it a second time to the PM office.

Indira Gandhi occupied the coveted seat for 11 long years, from 1966 to 1977. After the controversial Emergency rule and the ouster of the Janata Party, she regained the post on 1980 and held on till her assassination on October 31, 1984.

For his part, Vajpayee, who has the double distinction of contesting Lok Sabha elections for four decades (from 1957 to 1998) and being prime minister for the shortest duration (13 days), first came to power in May, 1996.

The following are the tenure details of Indira Gandhi and Vajpayee:

Prime Ministers	Period	Tenure
Indira Gandhi	January 24, 1966 to March 24, 1977 January 14, 1980 to October 31, 1984	4078 days 1753 days
Atal Bihari Vajpayee	May 16, 1996 to May 28, 1996 March 19, 1998 onwards	13 days To be seen

Gulzari Lal Nanda was acting prime minister on two separate occasions -- from May 27 to June 9, 1964 and January 11 to 24, 1966.

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