Former Assam Governor and three-time Odisha Chief Minister Janaki Ballav Patnaik, who passed away in Tirupati on Tuesday, was cremated with full state honours at the Swargadwar crematorium in Puri on Wednesday evening.
The cremation took place in the evening and was attended by a large number of politicians, two State government Ministers, many legislators, senior officials of the Puri district administration and hundreds of admirers of the departed leader.
Slogans such as ‘Janaki Patnaik Amar Rahe’ rent the air as hundreds of people jostled to have a glance of the late leader even as many dignitaries paid floral tributes to him.
The late leader’s son Pruthvi Ballabh Patnaik lit the pyre. Many of the family members were also present.
Prominent among those who were present included senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra, former Minister Niranjan Patnaik and Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harichandan.
Earlier in the day, the body of Mr. Patnaik was taken in a procession to the Congress Bhavan in the capital city. The funeral procession then reached the Odisha Assembly premises where the late leader was given the guard of honour. Assembly Speaker Niranjan Pujari and others paid their tributes to the late leader. Thousands of people waited at various places to bid farewell to Mr. Patnaik and hundreds of people were present when the procession reached Rameshwar, the late leader’s ancestral village in Khurda district.
Similar was the people’s response along the route when the procession proceeded from Rameshwar to Puri. The late leader had passed away in Tirupati early on Tuesday and his body was brought to Bhubaneswar on Tuesday afternoon.
