Vajpayee's ashes immersed in Yamuna

New Delhi : The ashes of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were immersed in the Yamuna river here on Tuesday following religious rituals.

A 'puja' was held before the immersion at Sonia Vihar pushta, where Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Manoj Tiwari and other party leaders were present.

Tiwari announced that the Yamuna bank where the ashes were immersed would be named 'Atal Bihari Ghat'.

"The ashes were immersed as the 13-day period of 'shraadh' ended on Tuesday. It would have made no sense to immerse the ashes on August 31," a party leader told IANS.

The urn containing the ashes was earlier taken to Delhi BJP headquarters on August 23, a day after it was handed over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party President Amit Shah and Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj.

The Delhi BJP had earlier planned to hold an 'Asthi Kalash Yatra' across the national capital from August 24 to 31.