Like the lotus, we thought we will be in politics but we will be not be mired in the corruption around us. Then, in Bandra [a western suburb of Mumbai] we held an all-India conclave and we named it Samata Nagar. About 55,000 workers came to Mumbai. They had great enthusiasm. We had five kitchens with five types of Indian cuisine. The ambience was so simple. We spent Rs 60 lakh [Rs 6 million], most of which we collected by selling coupons. There were very few big donators; people didn't donate much because we had broken away from the Janata Party and no one saw a future for our party. There were no Ambanis lining up to fund the party. Vajpayee was accommodated at party leader Vedprakash Goyal's home and Advani stayed with his relative in Mumbai. Most leaders camped on the ground itself. Simple living and high thinking was our motto. At that time too, there was a heated debate over who should be the first president of the BJP. To many of us, Vajpayee's commitment to Hindutva was a little feeble. During the Janata rule, when he was a minister, he had written an article criticizing the RSS' approach to national issues. But there was no alternative to Vajpayee. He was the most popular face of the party and a great orator. There was a conclave within the BJP in consultation with the RSS, to decide the party president. At that time, the core group of the newly formed BJP consisted of Vajpayee, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia, Advani, Kushabhau Thakre, Jaganthrao Joshi, Sunder S
