Atal Bihari Vajpayee(born 25 December 1924) is an Indian statesman who was theeleventhPrime Minister of India, first for 13 days in 1996 and then from 1998 to 2004. A leader of thecentre-rightBharatiya Janata Party(BJP), he is the first Prime Minister from outside theIndian National Congressparty to serve a full five-year term.
A parliamentarian for over four decades, Vajpayee was elected to theLok Sabha(the lower house ofIndia's Parliament) nine times, and twice to theRajya Sabha(upper house). He also served as theMember of ParliamentforLucknow, Uttar Pradesh, until 2009, when he retired from active politics due to health concerns. Vajpayee was one amongst the founder members of erstwhileBharatiya Jana Sangh, which he had also headed. He was also theMinister of External Affairsin the cabinet ofMorarji Desai. WhenJanata governmentcollapsed, Vajpayee restarted the Jana Sangh as the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980.
Vajpayee was conferred the,Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, on 24 December 2014. His birthday, 25 december, was declared as "Good Governance Day".[1]