Udupi: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is no more. This mass leader born in Gwalior shared a special bond with the “Temple Town” of Udupi. During his lifetime, Vajapayee had visited Udupi six times and his close associates say that though, most of the visits were official, he did share a close bond with many of the local BJP leaders.
Udupi and New Delhi were the first two City Municipal Councils in the country to have fallen into the hands of the Jana Sangha (before becoming the Bharathiya Janatha Party) with an absolute majority in 1968, and AB Vajpayee was the then national president of the Jana Sangha. Elated by the victory of the party in the far-flung coastal town, Vajpayee had called CMC President and BJP leader Dr V S Acharya and congratulated him over the phone.
Dr Acharya soon went on to make history by abolishing manual scavenging in 1968 and AB Vajpayee had again called Dr Acharya to congratulate him for his rather courageous move. In the same year, Vajpayee visited Udupi and took part in a programme organised by the CMC near Pejawar Math.
Later, in 1975, when the country’s darkest phase-emergency was imposed, AB Vajpayee, LK Advani and several senior leaders of the Jana Sangha were jailed in Bengaluru and in 1977, when the emergency ended and the Lok Sabha polls were held, Vajpayee came down to Udupi again to campaign for the party’s candidate and retired Supreme Court Judge Justice K S Hegde.
CMC former President Somshekar Bhat says that Vajapayee’s third visit to Udupi was in 1984. “The Assembly and Parliament polls were held together. I was the BJP’s candidate for the Assembly segment and Karamballi Sanjeeva Shetty was contesting the Parliamentary polls. Vajpayee had come to Udupi to campaign for both of us,” recalls Bhat, who adds that both lost the elections but, retained their deposits only due to the fabulous oratory of Vajpayee.
Vajpayee then came to Udupi in 1993. He had visited Shivamogga and on his way back, he visited Udupi, says the then CMC President Gujjadi Prabhakar Nayak, who recalls a special memento that was presented to Vajpayee.
In 1998, Vajpayee came to Udupi for the fifth time and this time he was the main campaigner for BJP’s IM Jayaram Shetty who was contesting the parliamentary polls.
His sixth and final visit to Udupi was in 2001. Pejawar seer Vishweshvatheertha Swamiji was ascending the Paryaya Peeth for the fourth time and the Math had built the Rajangana, which was inaugurated by Vajapayee.
As per many who had interacted with Vajpayee, it is said that the former PM had cherished a close bond with many leaders from Udupi like Dr V S Acharya, Somshekar Bhat, Karamballi Sanjeeva Shetty and others. It is said that Dr Acharya had, during many occasions spoken about his close interactions with AB Vajpayee and LK Advani.
