New Delhi: Arun Nehru, former union minister, was cremated here today in the presence of Sonia Gandhi and her family, including her 13-year-old grandson Raihan who lit the pyre.
Nehru, a cousin of Rajiv Gandhi during whose Prime Ministership in the 1980's he was a powerful political figure, died last night after protracted illness. He was 69.
Setting aside their differences which led to Nehru leaving the Congress party and joining V P Singh to form the Jan Morcha in 1987 after having served as Minister of State for internal security in Rajiv's cabinet, Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul and daughter Priyanka attended the funeral. Priyanka's son Raihan lit the pyre.
Other dignitaries present at the crematorium included Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, BJP leaders L K Advani and Arun Jaitley and Union Ministers Sachin Pilot, Anand Sharma and Farooq Abdullah.
Nehru is survived by his wife Subhadra and two daughters. Lucknow-born Nehru was a three-time Lok Sabha member and had a successful career in the corporate world before joining politics in the early 1980s.
Nehru was accused by the CBI of causing a loss to the exchequer in a pistol deal with Czechoslovakia in 1988 during his tenure as Minister of State. The Supreme Court had recently stayed the proceedings in the case.
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