The body of the former Congress president Sitaram Kesri, who died in New Delhi Tuesday night after a prolonged illness, was flown to his ancestral house at Danapur, about 13 km from Patna. He will be cremated on Thursday on the bank of Ganges at Bansghat in the State Capital, family sources said.
Senior party leaders Moti Lal Vora, Mohsina Kidwai, Ahmed Patel and Pratap Bhanu Sharma accompanied the body in a special aircraft. Several party leaders including Pranab Mukherjee, who is in Calcutta, are expected to attend his funeral. Kesri's body was taken to Delhi airport from the AICC headquarters where leaders and hundreds of party workers paid homage to the departed soul.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi described Kesri as a true secularist and said throughout his life, he fought for the uplift of the downtrodden. The Congress Working Committee in a resolution lauded his contribution to the party and said the octogenarian leader as a staunch Gandhian and led a life of austerity. A large number of partymen visited his Delhi residence at Purana Qila road and at the party headquarters to pay their respect to the leader who served the party for more than six decades. Bureau Report