Cong MP Santokh Chaudhary's cremation in native village on Sunday

Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary, who died after suffering a cardiac arrest during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, will be cremated at his native Dhaliwal village in Jalandhar district on Sunday. The 76-year-old two-time MP died on Saturday in Punjab's Phillaur. The yatra was suspended for 24 hours following his death.

Chaudhary fainted while participating in the march. He was rushed to a private hospital in Phagwara where he was declared brought dead.

Rahul Gandhi, who described Chaudhary as a hardworking leader and strong pillar of the party, will attend the cremation. He visited the grieving family on Saturday.


Cutting across party lines, many leaders including, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, former CM Amarinder Singh, and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal expressed grief over Chaudhary's death.

The Rahul Gandhi-led Kanyakumari to Kashmir yatra will resume Sunday afternoon from Khalsa College Groundin Jalandhar. It will halt for the night at Adampur, according to the schedule of the yatra.

The Punjab leg of the march began on Wednesday from Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib. The yatra took a break on Friday in the wake of the Lohri festival.

The yatra, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, will conclude in Srinagar by January 30, with Gandhi hoisting the national flag in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

The march has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.