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Former Indian PM Vajpayee in critical condition in hospital

August 16, 2018 GMT
FILE- In this Aug. 23, 2004 file photo, senior Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, center, leaves after a meeting at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India.  India's top leaders and politicians are visiting the New Delhi hospital where doctors say Vajpayee is in critical condition after a prolonged illness. (AP Photo/Sebastian John, File)
FILE- In this Aug. 23, 2004 file photo, senior Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, center, leaves after a meeting at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India. India's top leaders and politicians are visiting the New Delhi hospital where doctors say Vajpayee is in critical condition after a prolonged illness. (AP Photo/Sebastian John, File)
FILE- In this Aug. 23, 2004 file photo, senior Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, center, leaves after a meeting at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India. India's top leaders and politicians are visiting the New Delhi hospital where doctors say Vajpayee is in critical condition after a prolonged illness. (AP Photo/Sebastian John, File)

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s top leaders and politicians are visiting the New Delhi hospital where doctors say former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is in critical condition after a prolonged illness.

Vajpayee, 93, has been hospitalized for more than two months after being admitted for treatment of a kidney infection and chest congestion. He suffered a stroke in 2009.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited him Wednesday night and Vice-President Venkiah Naidu on Thursday.

Vajpayee, a Hindu nationalist from the Bharatiya Janata Party, ordered nuclear weapons tests in 1988 that stoked fears of atomic war with rival Pakistan. But he later launched a groundbreaking peace process with Islamabad.

He served three times as India’s prime minister; for 13 days in 1996, for 11 months from 1998 to 1999, and then from 1999 to 2004.