BJP veteran V K Malhotra cremated with full state honours

New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) BJP veteran Vijay Kumar Malhotra was cremated with full state honours at the Lodhi Road crematorium here amid the chanting of mantras on Wednesday afternoon.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and other senior leaders of the party, including MPs, MLAs and functionaries, bid adieu to the Jana Sangh-era party stalwart.

The last rites were performed by Malhotra's son, Ajay.

Earlier in the day, Malhotra's mortal remains were carried from Rakabganj Road, where he lived, to the Delhi BJP office on Pant Marg. A large number of party leaders and workers paid homage to the late leader.

Besides Gupta and Sachdeva, Delhi ministers Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Parvesh Verma, MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat and other senior leaders paid floral tributes to him.

The Jana Sangh-era politician was the first president of the Delhi BJP after the saffron party was founded in 1980.

Malhotra's 45-year political journey was marked by his work as an RSS swayamsevak and a Jana Sangh and BJP leader who kept the party afloat and worked tirelessly for its growth in the national capital, leaders of the saffron outfit said.

He was elected to Parliament five times and also to the Delhi Assembly. Malhotra defeated Congress candidate Manmohan Singh from the South Delhi constituency in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls. Singh went on to become the prime minister in 2004.

Incidentally, Malhotra was the only BJP candidate to win the Lok Sabha polls from Delhi in 2004.

In the 2008 Delhi Assembly polls, he was projected as the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) chief-ministerial candidate but had to settle with the leader of opposition's post as the Congress, led by former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, formed its third consecutive government in the capital. PTI VIT RC