NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
President K R Narayanan, Vice President Krishan Kant, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and a host of other leaders on Sunday expressed deep shock and grief over the death of Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi describing it as an immense loss to the country.
"His influence over the troubled parliamentary politics of our time was constructive and decisive," Narayanan said in his message.
Describing him as a young leader of great promise, who had already emerged as a great Speaker, the President said, "He was a man of the people with genuine and passionate sympathies for the poor and deprived."
The Vice President who is also the Chairman of Rajya Sabha, said that as a Speaker, Balayogi set high standards in Parliamentary management and was respected for his 'knowledge of intricacies of parliamentary rules and procedures, rational judgements, easy accessibility, ready wit and unfailing courtesy'.
"Words fail me to adequately describe my sense of loss of a very dear young colleague," he said.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who convened a special meeting of the Union Cabinet hours after news of Balayogi's death, said, "He would always be remembered for the able stewardship of the 12th and 13th Lok Sabha. Despite not having any previous experience he left an indelible impression by conducting the House through his talent, hard work and far-sightedness taking everyone along with him."
The Union Cabinet led by Vajpayee described Balayogi as 'democrat to the core'.
"Balayogi, as befits the high office he occupied, was a democrat to the core. He scrupulously upheld the democratic and parliamentary traditions in all circumstances," a resolution adopted at a special meeting of the Cabinet said.
Recalling that Balayogi was the first dalit and the youngest among those to be elected as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Cabinet said that Balayogi possessed an affable personality, had the uncanny ability to take every section of the House along.
"He was tactful, but always fair and impartial in all his dealings and decisions. His dedication to the cause of the poor and the downtrodden saw him advance steadily in the political field -- from panchayat to the Parliament in a short time," the resolution said.
Vajpayee said Balayogi left his mark wherever he went.
"A Lok Sabha disrupted by turmoil would become calm by his efforts as Speaker and continue with its legislative business," the prime minister said.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, while condoling Balayogi's death, said, "He earned the respect of the House and his initiatives in bringing orderliness in our deliberations won him universal respect."
Gandhi said Balayogi's capacity to iron out differences among various political parties was exceptional.
Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani said that in Balayogi's death Parliament has lost an impartial person who presided over the proceedings in the country's highest democratic platform with competence and integrity.
"He was a good Speaker and very impartial in his dealings," he said.
Meanwhile, a press release from the Prime Minister's Office said that Vajpayee would be going to Andhra Pradesh either on Sunday or Monday to pay his last respects to Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan said the body was being brought to Hyderabad and would be taken to Amlapuram on Monday morning where a state funeral would be accorded in the evening.
He said the Cabinet also decided to observe a two-day mourning from Sunday as a homage to the Speaker.
The national flag will fly at half-mast during the period.
Mahajan said a special flight of Indian Airlines is being arranged from Delhi on Sunday evening for taking Parliamentarians to Hyderabad to enable them to pay their last respects to the departed leader. The flight would return in the night itself.
An inquiry has also been ordered into the helicopter crash, Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain said.
Related Reports: Speaker Balayogi's body will be taken to Delhi G M C Balayogi: The first dalit Lok Sabha Speaker L S Speaker Balayogi dies in a chopper crash
Tell us what you think of this report
