Nitish, Tejashwi & many others pay tributes to Paswan in Patna

PATNA: Thousands of people and politicians cutting across party lines paid floral tributes to LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan, whose mortal remains reached Patna airport from Delhi on Friday evening.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar, his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, LJP MP Veena Devi, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, legislative assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Council’s acting chairperson Awadhesh Narain Singh, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and his party MP Manoj Jha paid tributes amid state honours to Paswan at the airport hangar.
Ram Vilas’s son Chirag Paswan broke down. Nitish laid a wreath on the body of his former ally and long-time friend with folded hands. Tejashwi shook hands with Chirag and consoled his mother as well. The leader of opposition said he had learnt a lot from Ram Vilas.
The body was brought to Bihar Vidhan Sabha where JD(U) working president Ashok Choudhary, RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari, state ministers Maheshwar Hazari, Mangal Pandey and Nand Kishore Yadav among many others paid tributes to the departed soul.
A large number of people, especially of Paswan community, had reached near the airport from all over Bihar to have a last glimpse of their leader. The entire road outside the airport was jam-packed. When the body was brought for a few hours to the LJP office, ‘Ram Vilas amar rahe’ rent the air.
Dharmendra Paswan, who had come from Shivaji Nagar in Samastipur, called Paswan’s death a big loss for their community. Chinta Devi, who looks after sanitation work at the LJP office, said she had come there thrice “to have a last glimpse of my brother”. Next to Chinta was Samundari Devi, who had come from Hajipur to pay tribute to her leader.
Ramesh Paswan, who had come from Kusheshwar Sthan, said he was associated with the LJP founder for two decades. “Now we will stand behind Chirag. He is our son,” he said.
LJP’s spokesperson Shravan Agarwal said at least 10,000 people had come from across the state to pay tributes to their leader. He said at least 500 people had also come from Shaharbanni, Paswan’s native place.
Agarwal said the last journey of Paswan will begin from his residence on Saturday for cremation at Janardhan ghat in Digha, the same place where Ram Vilas’s brother Ram Chandra Paswan was cremated last year.