Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, central ministers, several chief ministers and senior Congress leaders from different states are expected to attend former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao's funeral in Hyderabad on Saturday afternoon.
Rao's body was brought by a special Indian Air Force plane on Friday evening and taken to the stately Jubilee Hall in Public Garden complex, where it lies in state to enable people to pay their homage.
Family members, relatives and Congress leaders accompanied the body to the city.
The funeral procession will start from Jubilee Hall shortly before noon on Saturday and reach the cremation site near Sanjeevayya Park in the Buddha Purnima area abutting Hussainsagar Lake an hour later.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi will not attend the funeral. Party leader Motilal Vora will represent her.
Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy said the Cabinet discussed the arrangements to be made for the last rites and selected a four-acre site near Indira Park for the cremation and construction of a memorial befitting Rao's status.
The Cabinet paid rich tributes to him and recalled his contribution to the state and the country as chief minister and prime minister, respectively, he said.
Asked about the objections raised by some environmentalists to the government's decision to construct the samadhi and memorial at a site in Buddha Purnima project area, the CM said, "Nobody should have any apprehensions because the government has chosen a site which does not violate any of the environmental laws."
