Chatterbox: Chronicles of a death foretold

Vajpayee's greatest coup was his trip to Moscow: A visit that bestowed the Soviet stamp of approval on the Janata government

There are many breathless stories being told about former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure in the Janata Party government. But Vajpayee’s media advisor, Ashok Tandon has a different take on the whole period. In a column after Vajpayee’s death he wrote that it was an open secret that Prime Minister Morarji Desai didn’t want the external affairs portfolio to be allotted to Vajpayee. The former Jana Sangh, which merged its identity with the Janata Party, was allotted three cabinet ministerships. Vajpayee was one (the other two being LK Advani and Nanaji Deshmukh, the latter bowing out in favour of