Karna assembly pays homage to Vajpayee; adjourns for the day

: The Karnataka assembly, which met for the winter session here Monday, was adjourned for the day as a mark of respect to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away in August.

The house that met for the 10-day long winter session, also paid rich tributes to Union Minister Ananth Kumar, veteran Congress leader and former Minister Jaffer Sharief and film star and politician M H Ambareesh, among others.

As the House met for the day, the Speaker Ramesh Kumar moved obituary references to the departed leaders, including several former MLAs.

Kumar described Vajpayee as the "tallest statesman" and said he belonged to the whole nation.

In his remarks, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said that Vajpayee was the "Bhishma pitamah" of Indian politics.

"Vajpayee had the heart of a poet. He was a great thinker, orator and administrator.

He was Ajatashatru," he said, while recounting Vajpayee's contributions like the Golden Quadrilateral, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Pokhran nuclear test, among others.

The leader of the opposition in the assembly, B S Yeddyurappa, said he was lucky to have worked and travelled with Vajpayee on various occasions.

"Vajpayee was the Ajatashatru of free India," he said, adding that the former Prime Minister was a "fine human being and a statesman politician."