Vajpayee’s ashes reach Odisha, immersion ceremony in Puri tomorrow

Bhubaneswar: The ashes of later Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee reached Bhubaneswar airport here today for immersion in major scared rivers across Odisha.

Odisha BJP President Basant Panda arrived in Bhubaneswar with the urn (asthi kalash) this evening after receiving it from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah during a programme in New Delhi today.

 

The urn carrying ashes was brought to BJP office in a grand procession from the airport in the evening.

The ashes will be kept at the party’s State headquarters for public darshan. The ashes of the BJP patriarch will be immersed in the sea in Puri on Thursday.

The ashes will be taken to Puri in a procession from Bhubaneswar. A huge number of people are likely to join the immersion ceremony on the sea beach.

Following immersion of the ashes, an all-party meeting will be organised on August 24 in Bhubaneswar in memory of the great leader, informed BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra.

Reports said that the State unit of BJP is likely to invite Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Odisha Congress President Niranjan Patnaik to the all-party meeting.

The ashes will be immersed in the major rivers including Mahanadi, Baitarani, Brahmani and Rushikulya in phases.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders including BJP National President Amit Shah distributed urns carrying ashes of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to party presidents of all state units.

On Sunday, the ashes of Vajpayee were immersed by his foster daughter Namita Bhattacharya in the Ganges in Haridwar. The immersion ceremony took place at Har-Ki-Pauri ghat. Among others Vajpayee’s foster grand-daughter Niharika Bhattacharya, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP President Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat were present.

The most charismatic leaders in independent India Vajpayee passed away at the AIIMS on August 16 at the age of 93. He was cremated with full State honours at Rashtriya Smriti Sthal on August 17 in New Delhi.

The ashes of the legend will be immersed in 100 sacred rivers across the country including in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal, Punjab and Telangana.