Rich tributes were on Saturday paid to veteran Marxist leader and CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury at the party headquarters AKG Bhavan here, where his mortal remains were brought with chants of 'Lal Salaam' from his residence this morning. Wrapped in the red flag of the CPI (M), Yechury's mortal remains were kept at the party office, where party leaders, including polit bureau members Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, Pinarayi Vijayan and M A Baby, and others paid their tributes to the leader.
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi also reached the AKG Bhavan along with the other party leaders to pay her last respects to Yechury. She was accompanied by party leaders Jairam Ramesh, Rajeev Shukla and others. NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Congress leaders Mani Shankar Aiyar, Sachin Pilot, Ramesh Chennithala, DMK leaders Udhayanidhi Stalin, TR Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran, RJD MP Manoj Jha, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Gopal Rai, CPI general secretary D Raja and party leader Annie Raja, and CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya were among the political leaders who paid their last respects at the CPI (M) headquarters.
Chinese Ambassador Xu Feihong, Ambassador of Vietnam Nguyen Thanh Hai, Palestinian Ambassador to India Adnan Abu Alhaija and former prime minister of Nepal Madhav Kumar Nepal, former CIC Wajahat Habibullah, eminent historian Romila Thapar also paid their last respects to the veteran leader.
Hundreds of supporters, party leaders and members of the organisation gathered at the AKG Bhavan and a march was taken out while Yechury's body was being taken to AIIMS to be donated. His family were in the ambulance carrying the body, while supporters and CPI (M) leaders marched from the party office to Jantar Mantar, the streets once again drowning in chants of 'Lal Salaam'.
