Former Delhi chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Madan Lal Khurana, who died on Saturday aged 82, was cremated yesterday.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, BJP leader L K Advani and federal ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Harsh Vardhan, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Vijay Goel were among those present at the cremation at Nigam Bodh Ghat in New Delhi.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Lt Governor Anil Baijal and thousands of BJP workers also paid homage to Khurana, who was also a governor of Rajasthan and a federal minister.
Earlier, Khurana’s body was kept at the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party office for people to pay their last respects.
Tributes poured in from leaders of several parties.
President Ram Nath Kovind tweeted that Khurana contributed immensely to public life and particularly to the well-being of the national capital and its people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Khurana for his work towards rehabilitating refugees from the 1947 partition and called him an “able administrator”.
“Khuranaji will always be remembered for the manner in which he strengthened the BJP in Delhi. He made unwavering efforts towards serving the post-partition refugees in Delhi.” Finance Minister Jaitley remembered Khurana’s underground work during Emergency.
The Delhi government yesterday declared a two-day state mourning as a mark of tribute to Khurana.
“We all are deeply saddened to hear the demise of veteran leader and former CM of Delhi Khuranaji. As a mark of respect to the departed soul, state mourning shall be observed by the Delhi government for two days,” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted.
Baijal and Kejriwal also expressed condolences.