Chandigarh: The mortal remains of former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal were kept at the Akali Dal office in Chandigarh for people to pay their last respects. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to him. After this, his body has been taken to his native village Badal where he will be cremated at 1 pm on Thursday.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, while expressing condolences to the family, said that he would attend the funeral of former CM Badal in Badal village on Thursday.
Due to lack of space at the cremation ground in Badal village in Muktsar district, the last rites of the former CM will be performed in his ancestral fields. For this, the work of uprooting the kinnow garden on two acres is going on.
Badal died on Tuesday night at the age of 95. He was admitted to Fortis Hospital in Mohali on April 16 after he complained of breathlessness, where he breathed his last at 7.42 pm on April 25. Parkash Singh Badal was the Chief Minister of Punjab for 5 times.
Country’s oldest leader, 2-day national mourning
Apart from PM Modi, Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta,
Punjab Cabinet ministers Harpal Singh Cheema, Harjot Singh Bains, BJP state president Ashwani Sharma, former Punjab CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala, former CM Captain Amarinder Singh’s MP wife Preneet Kaur, BJP leader Sunil Jakhar also paid tribute to the former CM. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote a letter expressing condolences.
Badal was the oldest leader in the country’s politics. The central government has declared a two-day national mourning on his death, during which the national flag will fly at half-mast throughout the country.
At the same time, all official entertainment programs have been canceled. In Punjab, a government holiday has been declared on Thursday.