Raje postpones second phase of Gaurav yatra after Vajpayee’s death

: The second phase of Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra, scheduled to begin on Thursday, has been postponed as chief minister Vasundhara Raje flew to New Delhi to pay her last respects to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who died at AIIMS on Thursday.

The second phase was to begin from Bharatpur division. Raje left for Delhi by a special plane on Thursday morning.

Vajpayee was put on advanced life support after his condition deteriorated on Wednesday. The 93-year-old veteran politician, who died at 05:05 PM, was also put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support on his last day, doctors at AIIMS said.

The BJP cancelled scheduled programmes and party leaders from across the country gathered in Delhi.

The new dates of the yatra later will be announced later, the party said. State BJP president Madanlal Saini announced the cancellation of the yatra in Sawai Madhopur.

The second phase of the yatra was scheduled to cover Bharatpur division, between August 16, 17 and 19, 20. Raje was slated to reach Sawai Madhopur on Thursday morning.

The first phase of the yatra from August 4-10 covered Udaipur division. The yatra was flagged off on August 4 by BJP national president Amit Shah from Char Bhuja temple in Rajsamand district.

The 40-day yatra covering over 6,054 km will end on September 30 in Pushkar.

JAIPUR