PM arrives in Lucknow to pay last respects to ex-UP CM Kalyan Singh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here on Sunday to pay his last respects to former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh.

Singh, who was ailing for some time, died at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in Lucknow on Saturday night. He was 89.

Tributes poured in for the veteran BJP leader with Modi hailing his "indelible contribution" towards the development of the state and the "cultural regeneration" of India.

Singh, who also served as the Rajasthan governor, was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the SGPGI in a critical condition on July 4.

He died due to sepsis and multi-organ failure, the hospital said.

Uttar Pradesh has announced three-day mourning and a holiday on Monday when the former chief minister's last rites will be performed.

Singh was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister when the Babri mosque was demolished by a mob of "karsevaks" in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. Along with BJP veterans L K Advani and M M Joshi, he was among the 32 people acquitted in the demolition case in September last year.

A Lodhi leader, Singh was instrumental in the rise of the BJP to power in Uttar Pradesh in the 1990s.

He is survived by his wife Ramvati Devi, son Rajveer Singh, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Etah, and grandson Sandeep Singh, who is the minister of state for finance, technical education and medical education in Uttar Pradesh.