BENGALURU: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi arrived in Bengaluru on Tuesday morning and paid his last respects to AICC secretary Suraj Hegde, 55, who died of cardiac arrest late on Sunday night.
Accompanied by Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and former Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah, Rahul visited Suraj's residence on BEL Road near M S Ramaiah Hospital, where the mortal remains were kept. He consoled the grieving family members, including Suraj's wife Shilpa and their two sons.
AICC general secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala were also present.
The cremation will be held on Tuesday afternoon at the Hebbal Crematorium.
Suraj, the grandson of former Karnataka Chief Minister D Devaraj Urs, had worked closely with Rahul as the AICC secretary in charge of Puducherry and Tamil Nadu. He was also the vice chairman of the Karnataka State Guarantees Implementation Committee.
Deputy CM Dr G Parameshwara, Home Minister Priyank Kharge, MLA Dr Ajay Singh, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President BK Hariprasad, and others also paid their last respects to Suraj.