Atal Bihari Vajpayee made pioneering efforts to transform India: PM Modi

PM Modi walks in front of a picture of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. (Image: Reuters)

President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a host of other dignitaries paid tributes to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his fourth death anniversary on Tuesday.

They were joined by several Union ministers and other leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda, at 'Sadaiv Atal', Vajpayee's memorial, here.

Modi later tweeted, "Today, on the Punya Tithi of respected Atal Ji, visited Sadaiv Atal and paid tributes to him. We remain inspired by Atal Ji's efforts to serve India. He made pioneering efforts to transform India and prepare our nation for the challenges of the 21st century."

They also attended a prayer meeting in the memory of the BJP stalwart who was crucial to the party's rise to power in the second half of the 1990s as his amiable personality and cross-party relations brought it many allies and helped it form a winning coalition.

A prime minister for six years between 1998-2004, Vajpayee, a Bharat Ratna awardee, died in 2018 at the age of 93.

(With PTI inputs)