NEW DELHI, May 13: India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who resigned on Thursday after a stunning defeat in elections, has often been affectionately described as the grand old man of India.

A statesman of international stature, a poet and master orator in Hindi, a moderate in his Bharatiya Janata Party and an astute politician, Mr Vajpayee, 79, towers above most Indian politicians.

His tenure as prime minister was one of the most eventful in the country's history during which India held nuclear tests, made strides toward peace with Pakistan and made major economic progress. And yet, all Vajpayee - billed by a magazine as India's "most cuddly politician" - said he wanted to do in life was to write poetry. "I've been contesting elections for the past 40 years. I feel this is my last elections," the bachelor, 79, said during the five-phase polling process that ended with his party's surprise defeat by the Congress.

"I miss writing... it is true - I would like to write poetry again." Mr Vajpayee's nearly five decades of parliamentary experience earned him respect across the country's political spectrum, to the point where even his die-hard opponents tagged him "the right man in the wrong party".

Despite his three terms as prime minister - one lasting for 13 days (1996) and another for a year (1998) - Mr Vajpayee only attained real power in his third term, which began in 1999, towards the twilight of his career.

His ambition to be recognized as a world statesman has led Mr Vajpayee to put his political neck on the block a number of times by seeking peace with Pakistan, often meeting with embarrassing failures.

On Thursday, in a televised departure speech, he stressed that while he was quitting office, peace with Pakistan would remain a "life-long wish" for him. In 1999, he travelled in a bus to Lahore and shook hands with the then premier Nawaz Sharif.

He again set the peace ball rolling, inviting President Pervez Musharraf for talks in July 2001. The meeting ended without a solution and in December that year, an attack on the Indian parliament led to the suspension of the reconciliation process and brought the two countries to the brink of war.

Months of high-pitched western diplomacy averted the crisis but India vowed it would not talk to Pakistan until it permanently ended the alleged flow of militants into occupied Kashmir.

But last year, Mr Vajpayee, who some say is seeking a Nobel peace prize, again offered a "hand of friendship" to Pakistan, terming it his "third and final" attempt. In January, he met President Musharraf in Islamabad, kicking off bilateral talks.

Meanwhile, he also gave a go ahead for India's cricket team to tour Pakistan after a gap of 14 years - further boosting his ratings in the cricket-crazy Sub-continent. Despite a moderate image - he called the 2002 Gujarat massacre a "black mark" - Mr Vajpayee has also displayed traits of ambiguity.

While he was "inconsolable and sobbing" after the massacre - as per a BJP minister speaking to Financial Times Magazine - he did not take any action against Chief Minister Narednar Modi, seen as responsible for inaction and abetment in the killing of 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.

Having been quickly elected by his party as their parliamentary leader on Thursday, he will for the foreseeable future now have to be content with occupying the opposition benches in the Lok Sabha. -AFP