UP announces 3-day state mourning on Mulayam Singh Yadav's death

Lucknow, Oct 10: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has condoled the demise of former CM Mulayam Singh Yadav, and declared a three-day mourning in the state as a mark of respect. The last rites of the departed leader will be held with full state honours.

Mulayam, 82, died on Monday in a private hospital in Gurugram at 8.16 am after a prolonged illness. "The body of netaji is being taken to Saifai. On Oct 11, he will be cremated at around 3 pm," Samajwadi Party said.

Yogi Adityanath also spoke to Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and SP MP Prof Ram Gopal Yadav on phone.

He said in a statement that the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav marks the end of an era of leaders who believed in struggle and socialist ideology.

Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, assembly speaker Satish Mahana, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, and senior BJP leaders also condoled the death of Yadav.

''The news of the death of the senior SP leader and former Chief Minister is saddening. I express my sympathies to the family members and well-wishers of the leader. May God give them strength to face the grief,'' Mayawati said in a tweet in Hindi.

Samajwadi Party supremo and three-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Mulayam Singh Yadav died on Monday at a hospital in Gurugram after prolonged illness. ''Mere adarniya pitaji aur sabke netaji nahi rahe - Akhilesh Yadav,'' the SP tweeted from its Twitter handle.

The 82-year-old former defence minister was admitted to a hospital since August and was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Gurugram-based Medanta Hospital on October 2. President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among a host of leaders who condoled his passing away.