President, PM, others greet Vajpayee on 84th birthday

NEW DELHI: President Pratibha Patil led others to greet former prime minister and senior BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his 84th birthday on Tuesday.

An ADC of the President went to Mr Vajpayee’s residence in the morning and handed over a bouquet of flowers and a letter of best wishes to the BJP patriarch. The President is at present touring South India with her secretariat functioning from Rashtrapathi Nilayam at Hyderabad.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among the first to reach the BJP patriarch’s 7-Krishna Menon Marg residence to wish him.Mr Vajpayee has virtually retired from active politics, especially after his deputy Lal Krishna Advani was declared the BJP prime ministerial candidate December 10.

Mr Advani and BJP president Rajnath Singh greeted Vajpayee before taking a chartered flight to Gandhinagar to attend Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony as Gujarat chief minister. They will return to Delhi by evening to attend a dance drama, Mahabharata: Paaso ka khel, penned by Mr Vajpayee, which is being staged in Ficci auditorium here. Mr Vajpayee is expected to be present on the occasion.