Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar Cremated With Full State Honours, Several Leaders Pay Homage

Karnataka Minister DK Shivakumar and state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao also paid tribute to the late leader on Tuesday.

New Delhi: The last rites of former Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar were performed today. Kumar was laid to rest with full state honors. Amidst chants of “Amar rahe, amar rahe Ananth Kumar” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”, the former parliamentary affairs minister was paid homage by several leaders.

Karnataka Minister DK Shivakumar and state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao also paid tribute to the late leader on Tuesday.

Bengaluru: Karnataka Minister DK Shivakumar and state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao pay tribute to #AnanthKumar, who passed away on November 11. pic.twitter.com/W76qBaAHs3

— ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2018

Kumar’s younger brother Nanda Kumar performed the last rites according to Smartha Brahmin traditions while priests at the Chamarajapete cremation ground chanted Vedic hymns.

BJP leaders including Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, LK Advani, and Home Minister Rajnath Singh paid their respects to the Union minister. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and BJP chief Amit Shah were among those present.

Party spokesman S Shantaram said, “Kumar’s body was brought to the party office in Malleshwaram from his residence at Basavangudi on a flower-bedecked military around 9 AM.”

The casket was placed in the main hall of the party office as state unit chief BS Yeddyurappa, KS Eshwarappa, R Ashok, Union Ministers DV Sadananda Gowda and Ramesh Jigjinagi, party’s members of Parliament and the state legislature among others gathered to pay their final floral tributes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the family of the senior BJP leader in Bengaluru and paid his last respects to his cabinet colleague last evening.

Ananth Kumar died at a private hospital here in the early hours of Monday after battling lung cancer for several months. The 59-year-old Bangalore South MP breathed his last around 2 AM at the Sri Shankara Cancer Hospital and Research Centre where he was under care after returning home in October following treatment in the US and Britain.