Letters for post: Vajpayee to Vijay

Mark Antony offered the crown of Rome to Julius Caesar thrice during the festival of Lupercalia; Caesar spurned it each time.

- R. PRASANNAN

The reverse happened in Chennai last week. Joseph Vijay asked for the crown of Tamil Nadu thrice after his election win; Governor Rajendra Arlekar refused it each time. Till the actor-turned aspirant came up with letters of support from more than half the members of the upcoming assembly. Fourth time lucky! The drama reminded us of the famous 'chitti mili' moment of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The veteran who had tried, tested and failed a 13-day government in 1996 made a similar claim before president K.R. Narayanan in 1998. Narayanan, who was inviting leaders in descending order of the size of their pre-poll alliances, asked Vajpayee to produce letters from every party that had pledged support.