When Atal Bihari Vajpayee Asked For 'Pajamas' From Lucknow Voters

At election meetings, politicians usually just ask for votes. But at a public meeting in Lucknow in 2006, Atal Bihari Vajpayee perplexed the audience when he also asked for some pajamas. The former prime minister was addressing a meeting at the Lucknow's Kapoorthala crossing in support of Dinesh Sharma, now Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister, who was then a candidate in the election for Lucknow’s mayor.

During the meeting, Vajpayee asked people how he would look if he wore just a kurta and no pajamas.

While the gathering wondered what he wanted to convey and some shouted that he will look bad, Atalji said that by ensuring his own victory as MP from Lucknow, people had given him a kurta. But Vajpayee wanted the ‘pajamas’ too to go with his ‘kurta’, and that meant a win in the local elections.

This witty remark by Atalji catapulted Sharma to the post of Lucknow’s mayor.

In an interview, just after Vajpayee's death, Sharma told PTI, "Wherever I went, people assured me that I should not worry as they have to give the pajamas to Atalji."