Lakhs of people bid adieu to YSR

IDUPULAPAYA (KADAPA): Lakhs of people today bid a tearful farewell to charismatic Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who was killed in a helicopter crash, as his body was interred in his family's expansive estate here after a state funeral.

The last rites were performed in this rural town in Pulivendla constituency after a galaxy of national leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition L K Advani joined a sea of humanity that had come all parts of the state to bid adieu to him in Hyderabad.

60-year-old Reddy's son Jaganmohan (36), the cynosure of all eyes against the backdrop of a succession race for the Chief Minister's post, was composed with hands folded acknowledging the mourners, many of whom raised slogans like "YSR amar rahe" (long live his memory).

But his wife Vijayalakshmi and daughter Sharmila were inconsolable as they sprinkled earth after the flower-bedecked coffin was lowered into the grave in his 300-acre estate in Kadapa district.

Interim Chief Minister K Rosiah, Union Ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, V Narayanswamy and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and ministers of Reddy Cabinet were among the leaders present during the last rites performed here in accordance with Christian practices.