This urge to reconcile mutually opposed and fighting parties made him so effective during the Ramjanmbhumi-Babri Masjid conflict. We have former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao on quote that had the Chandra Shekhar Government lasted for a few more months the conflict would have been solved.

His reason to bring down the VP Singh Government and take charge as Prime Minister was the urgent need to bring down the temperature of the nation fevered by Mandal and Kamandal.

Chandra Shekhar was not an organisation man and therefore never succeeded in building parties and organising movements. His stint as chairman of the Janata Party could not save it from disintegration. Whichever party he presided over after that failed to throw roots and flourish. He undertook a Bharat Yatra and aroused so many hopes but could not build on it. He was not cut out for party politics. He believed in political power unlike JP and Gandhi but did not know how to harness it. He had great friends and believed in maintaining friendships.

It was for him almost a question of honour. But this weakness for relations also made him a prey. The Rajput patriarch had to take 13 members of his family to New York for treatment of his almost terminal cancer. He was loved and respected so much for all his weaknesses and strength. Even a lifelong critic like me is so hopelessly lonely today. Let Chandra Shekhar enliven and enrich our political and public life.

... contd.