Kapu: The final rites of senior politician, former minister Vasanth V Salian was held with state honours here on Sunday amid a large gathering at his residence in Katpady.
Prior to the ceremony, the body was kept for public viewing. Several political leaders from Congress, BJP, JDS and thousands of locals gathered and paid homage to the leader.
On behalf of the government, Udupi Tahshildar Guruprasad paid his respects to the veteran. SP Dr Santhosh Kumar led the Police force and offered respect by firing three rounds. Karkala DySP Vinay Nayak, Kapu CI Sunil Nayak and Kapu ASI Jagadish Reddy were present.
The body was cremated in the house of his son-in-law, Gangadhar Suvarna. Kamalaksha Suvarna lit the pyre.
Vinay Kumar Sorake being an opponent in politics to Salian, cancelled all his programmes and stayed for an entire day and paid his respects.
Former Union minister B Janardhan Poojary, State ministers Ramanath Rai, U T Khader, former minister Kota Shrinivas Poojary, MLAs J R Lobo, Halady Shrinivas Shetty, Sunil Kumar, Prathap Chandra Shetty, Ivan D’souza, ex MLA Jayaprakash Hegde, Lalaji R Mendon, Raghupati Bhat, Gopala Bhandary, Udupi zilla panchayath president Savitha S Kotian Karnataka Soap & Detergent president Veronica Cornelio, Udupi Municipal President Yuvaraj, Home Guard unit district commandant Dr. Prashanth Shetty, K.P.C.C. Secretary M.A. Gafoor, BJP leader Jagadish Adhikari, BJP district leader Jagadish Adhikari, BJP district president Thingale Vikrmarjuna Hedge, entrepreneur Dr. G. Shanker and other leaders were present on the occasion.
Vasanth Salian represented the Kaup Assembly constituency five times in a row between 1983 and 2004.The leader of the Billava community, Salian began his political career in the Congress.
He was the Minister for ports and fisheries in M Veerappa Moily’s government from 1993 to 1994 and during S M Krishna’s tenure from 2002 to 2004. Salian lost the Assembly elections in 2004 and 2008.
Later, he contested from Kaup in 2013 from JDS, but lost to Congress leader Vinaykumar Sorake. In 2014, Salian quit JD(S) and joined the BJP.
He is survived by his wife and two daughters.
