Atal Bihari Vajpayee's life-size portrait to be installed in Parliament next week

A life-size portrait of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be installed in the Central Hall of Parliament on February 12.

The portrait will be unveiled by President Ram Nath Kovind in the presence of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ministers, and leaders of various parties, official sources said on Wednesday.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a towering BJP leader, was the Prime Minister thrice - first for 13 days in 1996, then for 13 months from 1998 to 1999, and then from 1999 to 2004.

Born on December 25, 1924 in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP veteran passed away on August 16, 2018 after a prolonged illness.

The decision to install the portrait of the Bharat Ratna was taken on December 18 at a meeting of parliament Portrait Committee chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

The meeting, which was attended by Deputy Speaker M Thambi Durai, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, BJD's B Mahtab, TMC's Sudip Bondopadhyay, TRS Jithendra Reddy, Shiv Sena's Ananth Geete and BJP's Satyanarayan Jatia, had taken the decision unanimously.

The leaders whose portraits already adorn the Central Hall include former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi.

-ANI