President, PM, Sonia visit Arjun Singh's residence

President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday visited the residence of Arjun Singh to pay their last respect to the party veteran who died in New Delhi. Vice President Hamid Ansari also visited 17, Akbar Road in New Delhi on Saturday morning to pay respect to the 81-year-old departed leader, whose body was later flown to his home state Madhya Pradesh for cremation.

Senior leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Mohsina Kidwai will represent Congress at the cremation, which will take place on Sunday at Singh's home town Churhat in Sidhi district. Several union ministers as well as opposition leaders Arun Jaitley, Sharad Yadav, Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat also paid floral tributes.

Earlier, an emergency meeting of the newly constituted Congress Working Committee was held to condole the death of Singh, who was the party's vice president in the 80s. The meeting, chaired by Gandhi and attended by Dr Singh, passed a resolution hailing Singh as a symbol of secular values in Indian politics, who had "always fought against communal forces."

The resolution also said that Singh's efforts to uplift tribals, dalits and the under privileged will be remembered for a long time. The CWC resolution said Singh's demise is a not only an irreparable loss for Congress but for the entire national polity. In the CWC reshuffle on Saturday, Singh was dropped from the party's highest policy making body and made a permanent invitee.