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PM Modi visits Atal Bihari Vajpayee in AIIMS for third time since 11 May

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited ailing former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi on Friday.

PM Modi visits Atal Bihari Vajpayee in AIIMS for third time since 11 May

Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Photo: IANS)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited ailing former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi on Friday.

This was the third time that the PM checked on the health of the 93-year-old Vajpayee. He had earlier visited Vajpayee on 25 June and 11 June, the day the illustrious leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was admitted to the hospital.

PM Modi, who was at AIIMS for the foundation stone laying ceremony of a 200-bed National Centre for Aging, enquired about the well-being of the BJP who served as India’s Prime Minister briefly in 1996 and then from 1998 to 2004.

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Vajpayee was admitted to AIIMS with kidney tract infection and chest congestion. His urine output was on the lower side when he was admitted.

Addressing the media two days after 93-year-old Vajpayee was admitted to the hospital, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria said, “His kidney function is back to normal, heart rate, respiratory rate and BP are also normal, they’re being maintained without support.”

The doctors had said that the condition of the former Prime Minister has shown significant improvement and expected a full recovery in the next few days.

While Congress president Rahul Gandhi was among the first few visitors on Monday, BJP leaders Vijay Goel and JP Nadda rushed to the hospital to check on Vajpayee’s health, followed by BJP president Amit Shah.

A host of political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and former PMs Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda have visited the ailing leader since he was admitted.

Honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 2015, Vajpayee’s health issues began from the time he was the Prime Minister of India, a stroke in 2009 impaired his speech.

Hardly seen in public anymore ever since, Vajpayee has been confined to a wheelchair and reportedly has difficulty in recognising people.

A parliamentarian for over four decades, Vajpayee has been elected to the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament of India) ten times, and twice to the Rajya Sabha (upper house).

Vajpayee is the first and the only non-Congress leader till date who completed his full term as Prime Minister.

Born on 25 December 1924 in Gwalior, Vajpayee entered politics during the Quit India movement in 1942. He was also the first external affairs minister to deliver a speech in the UN Assembly in Hindi.

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