Friday, September 04, 2009 NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi led the mourners from across the nation to pay their last respects to Andhra Praadesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who was killed in a helicopter crash on September 2.The three leaders flew in from New Delhi and reached the Chief Minister's residence in camp office at Begumpet where the casket with YSR's body has been kept since last evening after it was brought from Kurnool following the post-mortem.They placed floral wreaths on the casket and an emotion filled Ms Gandhi signed the condolence book. The Prime Minister and Mr Gandhi also signed the condolence book kept near the casket and were there for more than 40 minutes before driving to Begumpet Airport to return to Delhi.Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, who also arrived in the morning, joined Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Minister of State in PMO Prithiviraj Chavan, Minister of State for Human Resources Development Daggubati Purandeshwari, Minister of State for Defence M Pallam Raju in paying their last respects to the departed leader.Andhra Pradesh Governor N D Tiwari, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, and several state Ministers also paid floral tributes to YSR.The last journey began at 0945 hrs. Immediately after the departure of the Prime Minister, Ms Gandhi and Mr Gandhi, the casket was placed on a floral-decked gun carriage draped in the tri-colour.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
Comments