Atal's ashes to be immersed in 100 holy rivers

Ashes of former prime minister A B Vajpayee will be immersed in the river Ganga in Uttarakhand's holy town of Haridwar on Sunday.

Besides this, the ashes will be immersed in 100 holy rivers across the country in the coming days. The ashes will be awash in seven rivers in Karnataka -- Vrishabhavathi (Bengaluru), Netravati and Gurupura (Mangaluru), Tunga (Shimoga), Bhadra (Bhadravati), Tungabhadra (Hospet), Kali (Karwar) and Ghataprabha (Bagalkot).

Vajpayee's family, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP president Amit Shah, Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh) and Trivendra Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand) will be in Haridwar for the immersion in the Ganga on Sunday afternoon. Later, the ashes will be immersed in Rishikesh (Ganga) and Badrinath (Alakananda river).

The BJP has chalked out a series of programmes next week to remember Vajpayee (93), who died on Thursday and was cremated on Friday at Rashtriya Smriti Sthal on the banks of the Yamuna river in the national capital. Leaders cutting across party lines have been invited to the function.

BJP General Secretary Bhupender Yadav said the party will organise a prayer meeting on Monday at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in the national capital at 4 pm.

Bond with Lucknow

As Vajpayee had special links with Lucknow, which he represented in the Lok Sabha, the party is also organising a remembrance meeting in the Uttar Pradesh capital on August 23. The same day, his ashes will be immersed in the Gomti river.

The party has also decided to hold prayer meetings in all state capitals, BJP district and panchayat offices across the country.