Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje halts campaign, leaves for Delhi to visit Vajpayee

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje left for New Delhi on Thursday to visit former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who is battling for life as he remains on advanced life support system at the AIIMS.

Due to the development, the second leg of her 'Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra' has been postponed, an official statement said.

The chief minister was scheduled to cover Bharatpur division of the state from the Sawai Madhopur district on Thursday, it said.

A health bulletin from the premier hospital said Vajpayee's "condition continues to be the same. He is critical and on life-support system".

A stream of leaders, including Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, BJP chief Amit Shah and Union ministers Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh, visited him in hospital.

A number of chief ministers, including Madhya Pradesh's Shivraj Singh Chouhan, West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Bihar's Nitish Kumar and Assam's Sarbananda Sonowal, are expected to arrive in Delhi later on Thursday.