Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee passes away

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away on Thursday at All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) following a prolonged illness. He was 93.

"It is with profound grief that we inform about the sad demise of former Prime Minister of India, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee at 05:05pm on 16.08.2018. Shri Vajpayee was admitted in AIIMS on 11.06.2018 and was stable in the last 9 weeks under the care of a team of AIIMS doctors. Unfortunately, his condition deteriorated over the last 36 hours and he was put on life support systems. Despite the best of efforts, we have lost him today. We join the nation in deeply mourning this great loss," Dr (Prof) Aarti Vij, chairperson media and protocol division of AIIMS said in a press statement while announcing the demise of the leader.

The veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader was admitted to AIIMS on June 11 with complications arising out of Urinary Tract Infection, low urine output and chest congestion. He was on life support since Wednesday morning after his condition deteriorated.

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.

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