NEW DELHI: The nation paid its last respects to Sitaram Yechury, CPM general secretary and a frontline fighter of the 'India' alliance. That everlasting smile has become a memory. The body was handed over to AIIMS, Delhi, as per his wish, in an atmosphere where slogans of 'Comrade Sitaram Amar Rahe' and 'Lal Salam' were chanted.

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, NCP–SP's Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and a large number of people, including various national and state leaders and workers, paid their last respects to the body, which was kept for public viewing at AKG Bhavan in New Delhi in the morning.

The ambulance carrying the body left for AKG Bhavan from his residence in Vasant Kunj at around 09.20 am. His wife Seema Chishti, children Akhila and Danish, politburo member Brinda Karat, All India Kisan Sabha general secretary Viju Krishnan, Rajya Sabha MP V Sivadasan, CPM activists and relatives were among those who brought the body to the ambulance. Though the public display was scheduled to take place at 11 am, the body was brought to AKG Bhavan at 10.15 am itself. The public display was held in a special pavilion.