Ashes of Atal Bihari Vajpayee to be immersed across country
NEW DELHI: The ashes of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be immersed at many locations across the country this week, a party source said here on Tuesday.
The ashes of Vajpayee will be immersed at six locations in Tamil Nadu, including the Cauvery, on August 26, the BJP state unit said on Tuesday. BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan said the ashes would be immersed in the sea at Chennai, Rameswaram and Kanniyakumari.
They would also be immersed in the Cauvery at Srirangam, besides Vaigai and Bhavani rivers in Madurai and Erode respectively, Soundararajan said.
The ashes of Vajpayee will also be immersed in eight Karnataka rivers, including the Cauvery, state BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa said on Tuesday.
He would travel to Delhi to collect the ashes and they would be brought to the city on Wednesday.
“Tomorrow morning in Delhi, BJP president Amit Shah has called a meeting of state unit chiefs and other leaders, I'm leaving for Delhi. The meeting is about immersing Vajpayee's ashes in holy rivers across the country,” the former chief minister said.
The ashes of former Prime Minister would be immersed in Godavari and Musi rivers in Telangana, the BJP state unit said on Tuesday. The ashes would be brought to the BJP'S Telangana headquarters here tomorrow evening from the international airport, party unit general secretary Chinta Samba Murthy said.
The ashes would be kept at the party office for people to pay their respects to the departed leader on August 23.
As a mark of respect to former the Prime Minister, the Uttar Pradesh government has also decided to name the upcoming Bundelkhand Expressway as ‘Atal Path'.
The government, which had announced a number of schemes as a tribute to the former prime minister, will soon issue a notification to rename Bundelkhand Expressway after Vajpayee, said UP Transport Minister Swatantra Dev Singh on Tuesday.
“CM Yogi Adityanth has already announced that a number of schemes in the state, the ‘karambhoomi' of Atalji, will be named after him to keep his memory and good work alive,” said Singh. The upcoming Bundelkhand Expressway is proposed to be a 289-km, four-lane, access-controlled highway.
The Maharashtra government will set up a study chair in the name of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in each of the 13 universities in the state, Finance Minister Sud- hir Mungantiwar announced here on Tuesday.
The Maharashtra unit of the BJP will pay rich tributes to Vajpayee at a function to be held in Mumbai tomorrow and in 13 other cities in coming days.
The BJP government in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday decided to name Naya Raipur, the upcoming capital city of the state, as ‘Atal Nagar' in memory of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Besides the capital, several other government institutions and projects will be named after Vajpayee, who died last week.
These decisions were taken during the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Raman Singh at Mantralaya (state secretariat) here today.
“Acknowledging the historic contribution of Atal ji in the formation of the state in 2000, Naya Raipur will be named as ‘Atal Nagar' and a memorial of Atal ji will be built there,” Singh told reporters after the meeting. The 93 year-old BJP patriarch died in New Delhi on August 16 following prolonged illness.