Prez Murmu, PM Modi pay respects to Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his fourth death anniversary

New Delhi, Aug 16: President Draupadi Murmu, Vice President S Dhankhar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among several dignitaries who paid tributes to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his fourth death anniversary on Tuesday.

They were joined by several Union ministers and other leaders at 'Sadaiv Atal', the memorial to Vajpayee in the national capital, in paying respects to him.

PM 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.

Vajpayee served as India's prime minister thrice - briefly in 1996, from 1998 to 1999 and then for a full five-year term between 1999 and 2004. He was the first leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party to become the prime minister.

A member of the Bhartiya Janta Party, Vajpayee had joined the Quit India Movement in 1942 as a student leader. He was awarded India's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna in 2015 on his birthday.

His birthday, December 25, was also declared as Good Governance Day by the Narendra Modi government.