PM Modi, top leaders pay tributes to Sushma Swaraj; funeral this evening

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Former foreign minister and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, who died of cardiac arrest on Tuesday, will be cremated with full state honours on Wednesday as the government of Delhi declared two-day mourning for the leader who served as a chief minister of the state.

Prime Minister Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind joined a stream of mourners who paid tributes to the veteran BJP leader at her residence. A visibly emotional PM spoke to Sushma Swaraj’s husband and daughter. The departed leader’s body will be shortly taken to the party office in central Delhi and will be kept there for a few hours to allow people to pay last respects.

The last rites of Swaraj, who was the chief minister of Delhi from October-December 1998, will be held at Delhi’s Lodhi Road crematorium later in the day.

Swaraj died late on Tuesday and doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi said she suffered a cardiac attack. She was 67.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among several leaders who visited Swaraj’s home in central Delhi’s Jantar Mantar Road to pay their tributes. They interacted with her husband Swaraj Kaushal and daughter Bansuri.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav also visited the family.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s working president JP Nadda said the body of Sushma Swaraj will be kept for three hours at the BJP headquarters on Wednesday for party workers and leaders to pay tributes.

Politicians cutting across party lines, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and BSP chief Mayawati, tweeted their condolences. Several Union ministers and other senior BJP leaders had visited AIIMS to meet the family of the former external affairs minister.

Swaraj, who was the foreign minister from May 26, 2014, to May 30, 2019, was the second woman to hold the office after Indira Gandhi.

“Delhi govt will observe two days state mourning as a mark of respect in the memory of former Chief Minister & senior leader respected Sushma Swaraj ji,” Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia tweeted.