A life-size portrait of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be installed on February 12 in Parliament’s Central Hall.
President Ram Nath Kovind will unveil the portrait in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan among others, government sources said.
Renowned artist Krishn Kanhai of Uttar Pradesh’s Vrindavan has prepared the portrait of Vajpayee.
The decision to install the portrait was taken on December 18, last year at a meeting of Parliament’s Portrait Committee chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
Vajpayee served as Prime Minister three times between 1996 and 2004, first for 13 days in 1996, then for 13 months from 1998 to 1999, and then from 1999 to 2004. He was the first Indian prime minister from outside the Congress to serve a full five-year term in office.
Born on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, Vajpayee passed away in August 2018.
Vajpayee was also a recipient of India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, which was conferred on him in 2015.
