The funeral of veteran socialist leader Mulayam Singh Yadav was held with state honours at his native town Saifai in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah district today.

Leaders from across India's political spectrum, including UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, paid their respects, as did thousands of his supporters who walked in the procession from the family house to the cremation grounds.

The Samajwadi Party founder was a three-time chief minister of UP and also served as the country's Defence Minister. He'd been ailing for months before he died yesterday at a hospital in Gurugram. He was 82.

His son Akhilesh Yadav, the current SP chief and a former chief minister, lit the pyre.

Uttar Pradesh's BJP government has declared a three-day state mourning.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh of the BJP represented the central government. Chief Ministers of Telangana and Chhattisgarh, K Chandrasekhar Rao of the TRS and Bhupesh Baghel of the Congress, were among the attendees.

Source: ANI