Vajpayee's portrait to be installed in Parliament's Central Hall

A life-size portrait of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be installed in the Central Hall of Parliament.

The decision in this regard was taken unanimously here at a meeting of the parliament's portrait committee chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, an official of the Lok Sabha secretariat told IANS.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Deputy Speaker and AIADMK leader M. Thambi Durai, BJD's Bhratruhari Mahtab, TMC's Sudip Bondopadhyay, TRS' Jithendra Reddy, Shiv Sena's Ananth Geete and BJP's Satyanarayan Jatia attended the meeting.

A proposal was given by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

The hall also has portraits of former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. But the portraits of Prime Ministers who died after the Gandhis -- V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar and I.K. Gujral -- have not yet found a place in the august hall.

After Shyama Prasad Mukerjee, Vajpayee will be the second BJP leader to figure in a portrait in Parliament's Central Hall. - IANS