Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister, passed away today in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi after a long illness. He was 93. The BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee was suffering from multiple ailments and was admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in June. Vajpayee was put on life support system by the doctors after his condition became critical in the last 24 hours.
L K Advani, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Health Minister J P Nadda, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP president Amit Shah, and Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan were among those who paid a visit to the ailing leader.
AIIMS said, “It is with profound grief that we inform about the sad demise of former prime minister of India, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee at 5.05 pm 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.”
Rahul Gandhi wrote on the wall of Twitter, “Today India lost a great son. Former PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji, was loved and respected by millions. My condolences to his family & all his admirers. We will miss him. #AtalBihariVajpayee.”
The body of Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be taken to the BJP office tomorrow, where the public can pay homage, followed by cremation before sun sets. Army officials have confirmed that gun carriage is ready for the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s mortal remains.
His first stint as Prime Minister lasted only for 16 days (from 16th May -31st May, 1996) and then again from 19th March 1998 to 13th May, 2004.