Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of the Lok Sabha and union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Deputy Speaker Kariya Munda and senior BJP leader L.K. Advani paid floral tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Parliament House on his 137th birth anniversary Wednesday.

The portrait of Sardar Patel, a stalwart of the freedom movement and the first home minister and deputy prime minister of independent India, was unveiled by the then President Rajendra Prasad, in the Central Hall of Parliament House April 23, 1958.

Among others who paid tributes to Sardar Patel were Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Paban Singh Ghatowar, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Kodikunnil Suresh, and Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy.

Rajya Sabha Secretary-General Shumsher K. Sheriff and senior officials of the Lok Sabha Secretariat also paid tributes to the leader.