Atal Bihari Vajpayee to get Bharat Ratna on March 27

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be conferred with Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award on March 27. Vajpayee, one of the founder of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is the first Prime Minister from outside the Congress party to serve a full five-year term.

President Pranab Mukherjee will confer the award to Vajpayee, who is not keeping well, at his residence.

On 25 December 2014, the office of President of India announced the Bharat Ratna award to Vajpayee.

Vajpayee served as the Prime Minister from 1996 to 2004 in three non-consecutive terms.