Atal Bihari Vajpayee, three-time Prime Minister, died at Delhi's AIIMS hospital on Thursday.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who was one of the first to meet former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after his hospitalisation in June, was also among the first today to mourn his death. "Today India lost a great son. Former PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji, was loved and respected by millions. My condolences to his family & all his admirers. We will miss him," Rahul Gandhi's tweet read.
From its official handle, the Congress too, paid its tribute to the three-time Prime Minister.
In a letter to Mr Vajpayee's adopted daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya, former prime minister Manmohan Singh said Mr Vajpayee was a "great patriot" and people from all walks of life, irrespective of their political leanings, loved and respected him. Describing Vajpayee as a great prime minister and an outstanding parliamentarian, the Congress leader said the former premier was an excellent orator and an impressive poet.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who died a little after 5 pm today after a long illness, was known for winning over adversaries despite ideological differences. It reflected at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences as politicians of all hues flocked to meet the leader in his last hours.
From Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, to Kashmir leader Farooq Abdullah, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a number of opposition leaders had made a beeline for AIIMs.
Atal Vihari Vajpayee's relations with the Gandhi family had always been cordial. It was Rahul Gandhi's grandfather, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who, hugely impressed by Mr Vajpayee's debut speech in parliament, had predicted that this "young man" will one day become Prime Minister.
After Jawaharlal Nehru's death in 1964, Mr Vajpayee had paid tribute to him in a steller speech in Rajya Sabha.
Mr Vajpayee's relation with former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was also cordial. In an interview, Mr Vajpayee once said that Rajiv Gandhi, after coming to know that he was ailing, had included him in India's delegation to the UN and asked him to get treatment there.
In March this year, at the India Today conclave, Sonia Gandhi had praised Mr Vajpayee, saying he had a "great respect for parliamentary procedure". "We worked very well when Prime Minister Vajpayee was there," she had added.
Mr Vajpayee, the BJP's tallest leader, was admitted to AIIMS on June 11 with a kidney tract infection and chest congestion. Since 2009, the former Prime Minister had withdrawn from public life due to his failing health.