Former Prime Minster Vajpayee passes away at 93

New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away at AIIMS on Thursday at the age of 93.

The 93-year-old BJP veteran admitted in AIIMS from last 9 weeks and a number of union ministers, chief ministers and senior leaders from opposition parties have visited him in the hospital during this time.

Several political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Jitendra Singh, Harsh Vardhan, Suresh Prabhu, Smriti Irani, JP Nadda reached AIIMS to enquire about Vajpayee's health. Among other prominent persons who visited Vajpayee were BJP leaders LK Advani, Shahnawaz Hussain, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Samajwadi Party's Kiranmoy Nanda, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal later cancelled his birthday celebration event. Several CMs including Mamta Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik (Orissa), Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan) too rushed to Delhi.

Vajpayee, who led the National Democratic Alliance government from 1998-2004, was the first ever person from the BJP to have become the nation's Prime Minister. Vajpayee served as Prime Minister thrice -- briefly in 1996, and then for two terms between 1998 and 2004.

Also Read: President Kovind and PM Modi condoles demise of Atal Bihari Vajpayee

His birthday, which falls on December 25, is celebrated as 'Good Governance Day' by the BJP. He was in 2014 decorated with Bharat Ratna. (ANI)

• #Prime Minister
• #Atal Bihari Vajpayee
• #AIIMS