Q. Who became PM for 13 days

Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister for just 13 days in 1996, marking one of the shortest tenures in Indian political history. After the 1996 general elections resulted in a hung parliament with no party achieving a clear majority, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single largest party with 161 seats in the Lok Sabha. President Shankar Dayal Sharma invited Vajpayee to form the government, and he was sworn in as Prime Minister on May 16, 1996. However, despite being given 14 days to prove his majority on the floor of the House, Vajpayee realized he could not secure the necessary support from other parties to reach the required 272-seat majority.

Rather than face certain defeat in a confidence vote, Vajpayee chose to resign on May 28, 1996, after just 13 days in office without even facing the parliamentary vote. This decision demonstrated his respect for democratic principles and his unwillingness to engage in questionable political maneuvering to cling to power. Following his resignation, a United Front coalition government led by H.D. Deve Gowda came to power with outside support from the Congress Party. Vajpayee's brief tenure is remembered as an example of political integrity, and he later returned as Prime Minister in 1998, serving a full term from 1998 to 2004 and becoming one of India's most respected leaders.