Former Union minister and Congress veteran CK Jaffer Sharief laid to rest

BENGALURU: Former Union minister and Congress veteran CK Jaffer Sharief was laid to rest at the Khuddussab burial ground on Nandidurg Road, Bengaluru on Monday. He was mourned by family and hundreds of Congress workers and his supporters.


Sharief died while undergoing a cardiac procedure at a private hospital on Sunday. The last rites were performed at 2pm as per Islamic tradition and with state honours.

Earlier, Sharief’s mortal remains were taken to the KPCC office on Queen’s Road for party workers to pay their respects. KPCC president Dinesh Gundurao, minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan and MLC Rizwan Arshad received Sharief’s body. Hundreds of party workers paid homage to the departed leader during the 30 minutes the body was kept for viewing.

From there, the body was taken to Qadriya masjid near Sharief’s house for the namaaz-e-janaaza (special prayers for the departed). Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, AICC general secretaries Gulam Nabi Azad and KC Venugopal, party leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, minister UT Khader, former ministers CM Ibrahim and R Roshan Baig, JD(S) state president MH Vishwanath, Congress leader Margaret Alva and others paid homage.

“Sharief was one of the tallest leaders of the Congress party and his contribution to railways is immense,” Venugopal said while recalling Sharief’s advice to him during their first meeting after taking charge of Karnataka. Venugopal also handed over a condolence message from AICC president Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi to Sharief ’s family.