With the death of Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon (85), curtains came down on the long list of protégés of late prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lucknow.
The veteran politician will, however, be remembered for his jovial nature and social and political outreach which could never be curtailed by his ideology.
A true embodiment of the Atal school of politics, Tandon, called Babuji by his admirers, despite his saffron tilt excelled in the art of political navigation and his moves against rivals were never ugly. He was one of the rare breed of politicians who had good personal relations across political parties.
Tandon’s liking for ‘chaat’, sweets and revelry during Holi would be missed by admirers of Chowk area. He was popular among minorities, especially the Shias, and enjoyed support in all the elections. He was also popular among media persons and his ‘chaat’ parties would definitely be missed.
Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s right hand man, Tandon was his ears and eyes in Lucknow, the parliamentary seat which was won by the former PM for a record five times. After him, Tandon was fielded from the seat in 2009, and he won and went to the Lok Sabha .
While paying his condolences to Lalji Tandon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remembered Tandon’s close links with Vajpayee.
“Shri Lalji Tandon will be remembered for his untiring efforts to serve the society. He played a key role in strengthening the BJP in UP. He made a mark as an effective administrator, always attaching importance to public welfare. Anguished by his passing away,” said Modi.
In 1991, rumours were afloat that Vajpayee was not keen to contest from Lucknow after losing three successive polls. When enquired by Tandon, the former PM had said, “I don’t want to repeat the feat for a fourth time.”
However, Tandon convinced him that Lucknow needed him and Vajpayee acceded and went on to win from Lucknow seat five times in a row.
Born on April 12, 1935 in Chowk area of Lucknow, Tandon, a graduate, was an RSS activist since childhood and joined politics by winning municipal polls in 1962 and became the leader of Jana Sangh in the municipal committee. He also served as Lucknow unit chief of Jana Sangh and was jailed for 19 months during Emergency.
In 1978, he became a member of Legislative Council for the first time. Later, he went on to become a legislator for five times till 2009 and served as a minister in Kalyan Singh government and also in the BSP-BJP coalition government. Mayawati treated him as a brother and tied rakhi a couple of times.
After Vajpayee became indisposed and did not contest, Tandon won Lucknow seat in 2009 Lok Sabha polls. But after one term, Rajnath Singh was fielded from Lucknow in 2014 and 2019 polls.
Tandon’s close links with Vajpayee paid dividends, with the BJP regime at the Centre appointing him as Governor of Bihar in 2018-19 and later of Madhya Pradesh in July, 2019.
His son Ashutosh Tandon alias Gopaljee is an MLA from Lucknow (East) Assembly seat and is presently urban development minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.