Andhra assembly salutes Lee Kuwan Yew

The Andhra Pradesh assembly on Monday condoled the death of Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore.

The house observed two minutes' silence after passing a resolution,

expressing grief over Lee's death and conveying sympathies to his family.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu paid rich tributes to Lee, who died

on Monday after a prolonged battle with pneumonia.

Describing him as a visionary, Naidu said he built Singapore into a modern

and prosperous nation after it suffered massive damage during Second World

War and after separation from Malaysia.

Naidu said he always tried to forge closer ties with countries like

Singapore to develop Andhra Pradesh.

The chief minister said Singapore came forward to prepare the master plan

for Andhra Pradesh's new state capital without asking for a single rupee.