Jaipal Reddy's last rites held with full state honours

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister S. Jaipal Reddy was cremated here on Monday with full state honours.

Relatives, friends and leaders of Congress and other parties bid adieu to Jaipal Reddy, who died on Sunday following brief illness. He was 77.

The funeral was performed near PV Ghat on Necklace Road abutting Hussain Sagar lake in the heart of the city.

Jaipal Reddy's elder son Arvind Reddy lit the funeral pyre amid chanting of Vedic hymns by priests while Telangana Police offered a gun salute.

The Telangana government had Monday announced a state funeral for Jaipal Reddy.

Top Congress leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, former Karnataka Assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar, and Telangana Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy, Telangana minister T. Srinivas Yadav and leaders of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) were among those who attended the funeral.

Earlier, the mortal remains of the deceased leader were brought from his residence in Jubliee Hills to state Congress headquarters at Gandhi Bhavan, where several leaders and workers of the party paid their last respects. IANS