Deve Gowda, Karnataka CM pay last respects to Vajpayee

Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and his son and Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy paid their last respects to late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi on Friday, said an official.

"Gowda and Kumaraswamy flew to Delhi in a special aircraft earlier in the day and paid homage to the mortal remains of Vajpayee at the latter's residence," said a statement from the Chief Minister's office in Bengaluru.

Vajpayee, 93, passed away in New Delhi on Thursday evening after prolonged illness.

Stating that Vajpayee was an "ajaata shatru" (one without an enemy), Kumaraswamy said the former Prime Minister was a politician who lived for the values he believed in.

State's Bharatiya Janata Party President B.S. Yedyyurappa and central ministers from the southern state, Anantha Kumar and D.V. Sadananda Gowda, also paid their last respects to Vajpayee at the party's headquarters where his mortal remains were kept, a party official said.

--IANS

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