For 86-year-old former parliamentarian Sheela Gautam, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was like an elder brother, but as fate would have it, she came all the way from Aligarh today to bid a tearful farewell to him.
"We played Holi together and celebrated Raksha Bandhan and I used to tie him 'rakhi'. It is a personal loss for me," Gautam said.
She was among a galaxy of personalties and public figures who converged at the BJP headquarters here to pay homage to the former prime minister, whose mortal remains were kept there before the cremation.
The former Aligarh MP, who came in a wheelchair at the sprawling building complex, told PTI, "The country has lost a stalwart politician, a statesman, and one of the finest prime ministers India had, but I have lost a brother."
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