PANJIM: The ashes of Late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be immersed in the rivers of Mandovi and Zuari on August 24. The ashes will arrive in Goa on Wednesday.
The two rivers are amongst those 97, across country, where Vajpayee’s ashes would be immersed. The other 95 rivers are in Uttar Pradesh (22) rivers, uttarakhand (3), bihar (7), Gujarat (4), Orissa (7), Assam (2), west Bengal (2), Delhi (1), Punjab (3), telangana (2), Rajasthan (2), Madhya Pradesh (4), Kerala (1), Andhra Pradesh (4), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Sikkim (1), Karnataka (8), Tamil Nadu (8), Himachal Pradesh (2), Daman (1) and Maharashtra (9).
The senior BJP leader died on August 16 after prolonged illness. Political leaders across various parties had paid rich tribute to the leader. In Goa too, Congress party had a organized condolence meet.
Addressing media persons on Tuesday, BJP general secretary Sadanand Tanawade said that party president Vinay Tendulkar and office bearer Sanjiv Desai will be going to Delhi to get the Kalash with ashes, which will be immersed in the rivers of Mandovi and Zuari.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will immerse the ashes in river Mandovi, while in Zuari it will be done in the hands of South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar. The immersion will be done on August 24 evening. “The ashes will arrive in Goa on Wednesday evening, from where it would be kept at party head office, so that party workers and others can pay their tribute. He was a great leader and many would like to pay their tribute to the leader,” he said.
On August 23 and 24, the state unit has organized Kalash yatra which will move across all the talukas before immersion. “We have tried to cover the maximum constituencies. In North Goa, the ashes would be immersed in Mandovi near Panjim ferry point, while in South it would be in Zuari at Cortalim ferry,” Tanawade explained.
