Arun Nehru cremated

Arun Nehru, a former union minister and a cousin of late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who died Thursday, was cremated here Friday.

Nehru died in a Gurgaon hospital after a prolonged illness at the age of 69 late Thursday.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi, daughter Priyanka Vadra and her husband Robert Vadra were present at the Lodhi Road electric crematorium, party sources said.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L.K. Advani and Arun Jaitley were also present at the cremation.

Nehru, who is survived by his wife and two daughters, was a minister of state for home in Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet. In 1987, he joined former prime minister V.P. Singh and left the Congress to form the Jan Morcha.

Arun Nehru held portfolios of internal security and energy between 1984 and 1986. He was union minister for commerce and tourism from 1989 to 1990 during the Janata Dal-led government.

Nehru had an avid interest in literature and history, and closely followed political developments even while not being in the thick of politics in his later years.

After he fell out with Rajiv Gandhi, Nehru was accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation of causing a loss to the exchequer in a pistol deal with Czechoslovakia.

Nehru, born in Lucknow on April 24, 1944, was elected to the Lok Sabha three times.

He worked in the corporate sector before joining politics, and had risen to become president of the Jenson and Nicholson group of companies.