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 Singh Bhandari and J P Mathur. Nanaji Deshmukh, though he was outside politics, was an important leader. Sikander Bakht was a senior leader whom the party had given a special status to. Like Madandas Devi is the interface today between the BJP and the RSS, Bhaurao Deoras, brother of then RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras, was mediating between the newly formed party and its parent body. Just as Sushma Swaraj was considered for the party top post to counter Sonia Gandhi, the Rajmata was then considered for president to pit her against Indira Gandhi. But we were wary of allegations of feudalism. So, the core group dropped her name. Advani was n
