New Delhi: Congress leaders have accused the Bharatiya Janata Party for appropriating its legacy as top leaders of Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other parties were present to pay homage to the mortal remains of former chief minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari but senior Congress leaders were largely absent from the final journey of the veteran politician who was the last from the party to rule the crucial state.

A three-time UP chief minister, Tiwari’s body, escorted from Delhi to Lucknow by deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma, was received at the airport Saturday by chief minister Yogi Adityanath and the BJP top brass along with those of Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with Congress representation largely left to state leaders Ammar Rizvi, Pramod Tiwari and Sanjay Sinh.

The SP was represented by Mulayam Singh Yadav and party chief Akhilesh Yadav while BSP chief Mayawati rushed senior leader Satish Mishra to represent her.

The body of Tiwari, who was also the first elected chief minister of Uttarakhand, the governor of Andhra Pradesh and a Union minister who handling portfolios such as finance, foreign affairs, industry, petroleum and labour in the Rajiv Gandhi government, was taken to the state assembly where governor Ram Naik, Bihar governor Lalji Tandon and others paid homage.

The BJP government also announced two-day state mourning in Tiwari’s memory.

The body of Tiwari, who passed away at a private hospital in Delhi on his 93rd birthday on October 18 after a prolonged illness was later brought to Uttarakhand’s Pantnagar in an air ambulance on Saturday and brought to Kathgodam Guest House for people to pay homage. UP minister Baldev Olakh had accompanied it from Lucknow.

The last rites were held with full state honours in his home district of Nainital on Sunday.

The Congress, which accused the BJP of appropriating Tiwari’s legacy, blamed Tiwari’s son, Rohit Shekhar, for the thin party presence.