Kolkata: CPI(M) patriarch Jyoti Basu
would be given a state funeral here tomorrow after Bangladesh
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Congress president Sonia Gandhi,
BJP leader L K Advani and a host of dignitaries and commoners
pay homage to him.
"Jyoti Basu will be given a state funeral tomorrow.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will led a 30-member
delegation to pay tribute to Basu at the assembly premises
where his body will be kept for over five hours," Assembly
Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim told reporters here.
Hasina, who reaches Kolkata in the morning by a
special flight, will be accompanied by four of her cabinet
colleagues and Bangladesh's former military ruler Hussain
Muhammed Ershad who had studied in school and college in West
Bengal.
Among other leaders to pay homage would be union
ministers Sharad Pawar and S Jaipal Reddy, former Lok Sabha
speaker P A Sangma, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and
RJD leader Lalu Prasad.
Under a changed schedule, Basu's body will be taken
from the funeral parlour, where it is being kept, to CPI(M)
headquarters at Alimuddin Street at around 8:30 am.
CPI-M politburo and Central and State Committee
members besides leaders of other political parties will pay
homage to Basu at the CPI-M headquarters, CPI(M) state
secretary Biman Bose said.
PTI
First Published: Monday, January 18, 2010, 20:23