Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who died of cardiac arrest at a Delhi hospital on Saturday, was cremated with state honours at the Nigambodh Ghat on Sunday afternoon. She was 81.
Hundreds of people turned up to pay homage to former three-time Delhi CM as her body was brought to the Congress headquarters.
Congress workers jostled to have a glimpse of their leader as the body was brought in a glass casket from her Nizamuddin residence to the party headquarters. The truck carrying the casket moved slowly as the road was packed with supporters who chanted ‘Jab tak suraj chand rahega Sheila ji ka naam rahega’.
Several top Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Ahmed Patel and chief ministers Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath, paid their last respects to Dikshit at the Congress office.
“She was a friend…almost like an elder sister. This is a big loss to the Congress party,” Sonia Gandhi told reporters.
Dikshit’s body was also taken to the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee’s office for the last time, the place that was central to her politics since 1998.
Earlier in the day, leader form the BJP such as L K Advani and former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj visited Dikshit’s residence and paid homage.