Atal Bihari Vajpayee a leader par excellence: Arun Jaitley

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is a leader par excellence who has worked tirelessly for the nation.

Vajpayee is being conferred country's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna today by President Pranab Mukherjee.

"This a proud moment for the country and all of us. He a stalwart leader of the country. He is a leader of par excellence who has worked tirelessly in the interest of the nation," Jaitley said here.

"In this country, I think there would be very few people like him who are good orator, political leader, thinker and poet. We pray for his good health and long life," he added.

Setting aside protocol, the President will visit Vajpayee's Krishna Menon Marg residence here and will confer him the Bharat Ratna later today.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other senior Cabinet ministers will be present on the occasion.