Battle cry at birthday bash: Atal Bihari Vajpayee (right) and L.K. Advani at an event to celebrate colleague V.K. Malhotra’s 75th birthday in New Delhi on Tuesday. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi, Dec. 19: Barely a year after he announced his “retirement”, Atal Bihari Vajpayee has asserted that he is ready for yet another political battle.

At a public function this evening to mark the 75th birthday of BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Vajpayee took off from where Manmohan Singh had left off yesterday.

Singh had taken a swipe at L.K. Advani during a Lok Sabha debate on the nuclear deal yesterday. “The leader of Opposition has tried to divide the UPA in the hope the government can be toppled. But let me assure him that his dream would not be fulfilled,” he said.

An aggressive Vajpayee took the bait as RSS chief K. S. Sudarshan, BJP president Rajnath Singh and senior leaders Sushma Swaraj and Vijay Kumar Malhotra looked on.

“During a discussion on the nuclear deal in the Lok Sabha yesterday, the PM poked fun at us. Par hamare liye yeh chutki nahin, chunauti hai (This is not a joke. It is a challenge for us),” said Vajpayee.

To Singh’s sarcastic remark that Advani would have to take Vajpayee’s permission to topple the government, Vajpayee said: “We are running the NDA, the Opposition. I feel that the kind of government the UPA is running should go.”

“I want this government to fall. This government should go. And, God willing, with people’s support and everyone’s effort, it would go,” he said to thunderous applause from party workers and supporters.

While Vajpayee went hammer and tongs at the UPA and Singh, Advani was missing. He left early to catch a flight.

“He (Singh) has just returned from Doha,” said Vajpayee, leading to whispered queries about when the Prime Minister had visited Doha.

Singh has not gone to Doha at all. But that did not deter Vajpayee, who punned on the word “doha” and went on attacking Singh. “Par ab unko doha nahin, chopayee ki zaroorat hai (loosely translated, it means that Singh needs a lot of support to run this government now. Literally, “doha” means a two-line verse and “chopayee” a four-line verse.)”

Earlier, while Rajnath, Advani and Sushma wished Malhotra a long life, Vajpayee said he wanted Malhotra to live “among all of us”.

“Main chahta hoon Malhotraji bahut jiyen aur ham sab ke beech jiyen (I want Malhotra to live long, and live long along with all of us),” he said, with a twinkle in his eye. The crowd cheered: “Vajpayeeji amar rahen (long live Vajpayee).”

To underline that he was still “very much alive”, he said: “Today is the last day of the winter session of Parliament… But let me assure you, it is not my last day.”