Former Prime Minister Vajpayee turns 88 today, leaders greet him

New Delhi:Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday turned 88. PM and several leaders wished Vajpayee on his 88th birthday. Vajpayee was born on 25th December, 1924 in Gwalior. His father was a teacher in Gwalior. He learnt writing skill from his father who was eminent poet of Braj and Hindi.
Vajpayee joined the RSS in the early age. Later, he did his MA in Political Science from DAV College, Kanpur. He edited Panchjanya, Rashtra Dharma, Dainik Swadesh and Vir Arjun. He is one of the founder members of Jan Sangh.  He was the president of Jan Sangh from 1968 to 1973.
Vajpayee unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha election in 1955. He won the Lok Sabha election for the first time in 1957 from Balrampur as Jan Sangh candidate.
After Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Vajpayee was the longest serving PM of India as non-congress candidate. He was the first Indian PM to address the UN in Hindi.
As the Prime Minister, Vajpayee took bold step by conducting nuclear tests at Pokhran in Rajasthan in 1998. The US was unaware of it.