Most recently, he shamelessly invited defections, blissfully unconcerned about the dubious reputation his party had acquired after the disgraceful show in UP. He has openly lobbied for the fishy Hindujas, and on critical issues like the Ayodhya demolition his pronouncements have a definite delphic quality. Yet, in a variation of the 'teflon' theme, nothing seems to stick. He is our quintessential Mr Clean, a shining star in a degraded polity.
I can advance two and a half reasons for his extraordinary appeal. One, he has been able to cultivate a persona of rectitude (without the aid of spin doctors) which goes beyond party affiliations. The deep, reflective voice punctuated by thoughtful pauses sends a single insistent message: even in a dirty game like politics, there is a bottomline, a Laxman rekha which I will not cross. Ideas like strengthening democracy, personal integrity, parliamentary decorum, national interest may sound nebulous when delivered by the average neta, but in his mouth they acquire a ring of credibility. He has successfully managed to convey, even to a non-BJP audience, that his quest for prime ministership is tempered by his sense of right and wrong. This most ambitious of Indian politicians gives the impression of being indifferent to power.
Two, his appeal cuts across party lines because he seems such a misfit in his own party. Thus, while some sections of the saffron brigade have doubts about his effectiveness, and, particularly, his loyalty to the Sangh parivar's weltanschauung, people outside the parivar admire his pragmatism, his refusal to let party dogma subdue his naturally moderate tendencies. Cumulatively, then, he becomes a 'national' leader.
The half-a-reason, and do not discount this, relates to public sympathy. The public feels sorry for a politician of undoubted and proven talents who made one colossal error: he joined the wrong party. If Vajpayee had been in the Congress or in any of the constituents of the United Front, he would have realised his prime ministerial 'dream' in the late '80s or early '90s. As things stand now, he may not even make it in the late '90s.