Sunday, December 25 2005 14:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Former Prime Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee turned 81 today (Dec 25, 2005) and was greeted by a number of party leaders and activists at his residence here.

Outgoing BJP President L K Advani and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, who is tipped to succeed him, were among the early callers to greet Vajpayee.

Advani, accompanied by wife Kamala, arrived at the former Prime Minister's residence at around 1000 hours and left after ten minutes.

Several senior BJP leaders, including Murli Manohar Joshi, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ananth Kumar, B C Khanduri, Harsh Vardhan, Madan Lal Khurana, Vijay Goel, Dharmendra Pradhan and Sahib Singh Varma, also greeted Vajpayee wishing him a long and happy life.

Priests and party activists from Uttaranchal performed prayers for the long life of the octogenarian leader.

Children from a few schools in Delhi also turned up to wish Vajpayee. Some of them were dressed as Santa Claus.