Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee passes away

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has passed away. He was 93. A bulletin from AIIMS said he passed away at 5:05 pm.  Vajpayee’s health worsened over the last 24 hours, the All India Institute of Medical Science said in a press note released this morning that Vajpayee continued to be in a critical condition and was on life support.

Vajpayee was admitted to AIIMS on June 11 after complaints of urinary tract infection, low urine output and chest congestion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with BJP president Amit Shah paid a second visit to Vajpayee in AIIMS.

In view of Vajpayees critical health, BJP had suspended all its programmes. An event scheduled for 20 August where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to launch a book on Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidus one year in office has also been postponed.

Vajpayee was conferred India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2014. The same year, Modi government declared that Vajpayee’s birth anniversary on December 25 — would be marked as Good Governance Day.