Vajpayee's ashes immersed in Cauvery river in Karnataka

The ashes of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were immersed in the Cauvery river at Srirangapatna on Thursday, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) official said.

"The ashes in urns were immersed in the Cauvery by party's state unit President B.S. Yeddyurappa from the river's bank at 'Pashchim Vahini' in Srirangapatna near Mysuru," a party official told reporters here.

Srirangapatna in Mandya district is about 130km from Bengaluru in the old Mysuru region.

Hundreds of people from the historic town and Mysuru gathered at the river banks to pay homage to Vajpayee on the occasion.

Vajpayee, 94, passed away in New Delhi on August 16 after prolonged illness.

"The ashes will also be immersed on Friday in seven other rivers across the state -- Netravathi, Malaprabha, Krishna, Karanja, Tungabhadra, Sharavati and Tunga -- by the party's state leaders and cadres.

Yeddyurappa and Central ministers from the southern state Ananth Kumar and D.V. Sadananda Gowda brought the ashes in eight urns from New Delhi on Wednesday for immersion in the eight rivers across the state.

A condolence meeting will be held in Bengaluru on Sunday to pay tributes to Vajpayee.

The urns containing the ashes were kept at the party's state unit office after they were brought from Delhi to enable the party's leaders, cadres and the public to pay floral tributes to the departed leader.

"Amar Rahe, Amar Rahe, Atal Bihari Amar Rahe" slogans rent the air.

--IANS

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