Vajpayee's funeral to take place at Smriti Sthal on Friday

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Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away here on Thursday, will be laid to rest at Smriti Sthal on Friday at 4 p.m.

"His mortal remains will be kept at his residence at Krishna Menon Marg till 8 a.m for paying tributes. Around 9 a.m., his mortal remains will be brought to BJP headquarters at 6-A Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg. His funeral procession will begin at 1 p.m and the last rites will be performed at 4 p.m at Smriti Sthal," BJP President Amit Shah said.

The mortal remains of Vajpayee have already been brought to the Krishna Menon Marg-located residence.

Vajpayee, whose politics of moderation in a hardline party propelled the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power for the first time in the 1990s, died on Thursday after long illness.

The 93-year-old leader, who had faded from public life for more than a decade following health complications and was admitted to AIIMS with urinary tract infection on June 11, breathed his last at 5.05 p.m.

He became the Prime Minister first in May 1996 for 13 days and again in March 1998 till 2004. With his swearing-in as Prime Minister after the Lok Sabha polls of October 1999, Vajpayee became the first and only person after Jawaharlal Nehru to occupy the Office of the Prime Minister of India for three successive Lok Sabhas.

He was awarded India's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna in 2015.

--IANS

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