Tributes paid to Govind Ballabh Pant on birth anniversary

New Delhi: The nation on Thursday paid tributes to former Union home minister and Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant on his 128th birth anniversary.

Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari and Parliamentary Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu along with BJP patriarch LK Advani paid floral tributes at the statue of Pant near Parliament House today.

The Vice-President was received by Ila Pant, former MP and daughter-in-law of Pandit Pant, at the ceremony.

A release here quoted Ansari as saying that Pandit Pant was "a towering figure of the freedom movement" who served with "distinction as Home Minister of India and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh".

Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay, Advani's daughter Pratibha Advani and several other dignitaries, too, attended the function.