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The mortal remains of Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar were consigned to flames with full state honours in the presence of top BJP leaders.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew into the city from Varanasi in the evening and met Kumar’s family. He offered his condolences and laid a wreath on the glass casket draped in the tricolour.
In Bengaluru, I paid tributes to Shri Ananth Kumar Ji. We’ve lost an outstanding public servant, who had a positive impact on the lives of many. Also spent time with his family members. pic.twitter.com/SRXPqyY9x5
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 12, 2018
BJP patriarch and former deputy prime minister L K Advani, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP chief Amit Shah, and state party chief B S Yeddyurappa paid their last respects . Also in attendance were Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mahesh Sharma, Vijay Goel and Sadananda Gowda.
The funeral pyre was lit by Kumar’s younger brother Nanda Kumar, who performed the last rites according to Smartha Brahmin traditions, amidst chanting of Vedic hymns by priests at the Chamarajapete cremation ground.
Chants of “Amar rahe, amar rahe, Ananth Kumar amar rahe” and “Bharat mata ki jai” rent the air as leaders paid homage and the mortal remains were consigned to flames.
The 59-year old Bangalore South MP, breathed his last during the early hours on Monday at the Sri Shankara Cancer Hospital and Research Centre. He was under care at the hospital after returning home in October following treatment in the US and Britain.
