New Delhi, January 30: Former defence minister George Fernandes will be cremated in New Delhi on Wednesday. His funeral will take place at the Lodhi Road crematorium today. Fernandes will be cremated after which, 'as per his wish', his ashes will be buried. The last rites of Fernandes will be performed after his son Sean Fernandes arrives from the US, the former defence minister's wife Leila Kabir said on Tuesday. George Fernandes Dies: Former Defence Minister Breathes His Last at 88.

“It will be at Lodhi crematorium. We are following two things which he liked. First, he wanted cremation and then during his last days, he was saying burial. So we are going to cremate the body and bury the ashes which will fulfil both his wishes,” Fernandes' close associate Jaya Jaitly had said on Tuesday.

Fernandes breathed his last at 7 am on Tuesday in Delhi due to prolonged illness. He was 88. Fernandes had been battling Alzheimer's disease for years and was also suffering from Swine Flu for the past few days.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajanth Singh, BJP president Amit Shah and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, among other leaders, visited the bereaved family at their residence in New Delhi to pay their respects.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to express grief over his demise. "George Sahab represented the best of India’s political leadership. Frank and fearless, forthright and farsighted, he made a valuable contribution to our country. He was among the most effective voices for the rights of the poor and marginalised. Saddened by his passing away", the Prime Minister tweeted.

Fernandes had challenged then PM Indira Gandhi’s imposed Emergency and was arrested in 1976 for infamous Baroda dynamite case. After the Emergency, he fought the elections in 1977 in absentia from Muzaffarpur in Bihar and won. George Fernandes Dies at 88: Key Highlights of The Political Career of Former Defence Minister.

Fernandes served as the Defence Minister of India in both the second and third National Democratic Alliance governments (1998–2004). His political adventurism that included Cabinet posts in two ideological opposite governments where he ousted Coca-Cola in 1977 and oversaw the Kargil war in 1999.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 30, 2019 11:45 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).