It is alleged that when Indira Gandhi feared she will be arrested by Charan singh, Home Minister under Morarji Desai, she scribbled a name in a piece of paper and handed over to her colleagues instructing them to follow the man she had chosen as her successor in case she gets arrested. And This man was Narasimha Rao. I am amazed at the ability of Indira Gandhi to have spotted talent in a man who was not flamboyant , not a vote catcher, not an effective orator or communicator, but a staunch loyalist of her. Rajiv Gandhi some how had a profound dis taste for this man and when he was picking up his baggage to go back to Andhra Pradesh- he was denied a party ticket in 1991, Rajiv was eliminated during an election campaign meeting by LTTE assasins aided by turncoats from our own country. Sonia like her mother in law chose PV to head a minority Government and PV took up the task of keeping the party united under him. PV intended to democratise the party but when in Tripati AICC plenary session, his challengers like Arjun singh, Antony got elected with huge margins, used sycophants like RK Dhawan to get mandate to reconstitute CWC. 

PV is an erudie scholar and proficient in many languages. He hardly ever spoke and when he spoke it was not inspiring. He was called Mauni baba by late Chandrasekar. He had his association with power brokers like Nemi Chand Gandhi aka Chandraswami. He was an ardent devotee of Sri Sathya Sai baba. But he had a childish charm in him that even an assasin with loaded gun would bow before him as it happened when a team of militant sadhus met him prior to first Karseva returning much chastised.It is still intriguing as to why Rao allowed the demolition of the Babri Masjid despite having all the mandate to prevent this. Rao was incidentally the Industries Minister when licencing was abolished in India. Rao is the architect of modern India and managed a minority government well. The JMM bribery scandal was nevertheless a stain but Rao was victimised by the SC. SC declared him guilty while exonerating bribe takers like Shibu soren under constitutional immunity. Ramjeth malani claimed that his client Harshad Mehta paid Rao 100 lacs as bribe. Arjun Singh claimed that the best way to control a violent mob is to come up before them and say the Prime minister will address you. Such was the lacklustre speeches of Rao that such comments were the order of the day. 

PokhranII could have happened much earlier than in  NDA-II but for American reconnisance flights picking up the site just about when our scientists were to press the button. Vajpayee did push the button and claimed honours which were rightfully Rao's. Rao followed a policy of reconcilation successfully and by far the greatest Prime Minister perhaps after Nehru. Sonia Gandhi, I rate her highly needs to shed her inhibitions as she did with Pranab da and award Bharat Ratna to this illustrious son of India who would have managed the present mess far better than any Singhs put together.