Hundreds pay floral tributes to ashes of Vajpayee

Hundreds of BJP workers and admirers of Atal Bihari Vajpayee paid floral tributes to the ashes of the former prime minister at the party headquarters in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa brought the urns containing the ashes of Vajpayee from New Delhi. The urns were taken in a procession from the Kempegowda International Airport to BJP office. Top state leaders including Ananth Kumar, D V Sadananda Gowda and R Ashoka were present.

The BJP’s move is seen as an effort to tap the legacy of its most popular icon ahead of the Lok Sabha polls with Asti Visarjan (immersion of ashes) programmes organised at Triveni Sangam in Srirangapatna and seven other places besides a condolence meeting this week.

On Thursday, the urn will be taken in a procession to Triveni Sangam in Srirangapatna for immersion. The procession will pass through Ramanagara, Channapatna, Maddur and Mandya. Asti Visarjan will also be held at seven other places on August 25 – Rivers Nethravathi, Malaprabha, Krishna Karanja, Tungabhadra, Sharavathi and Tunga. A condolence meeting for Vajpayee will be held in Bengaluru onAugust 26.