Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ananth Kumar, who died on Monday morning at a hospital in Bengaluru, was cremated with full state honours this afternoon.

The funeral pyre was lit by Mr Kumar's younger brother Nanda Kumar, amid chanting of vedic hymns at the Chamarajapete cremation ground.

Among the national leaders who paid floral tributes to Kumar were Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar, Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala and Union Minister for Statistics and Implementation D.V. Sadananda Gowda.

Kumar's body was kept in a glass casket draped in the national flag for people to pay their last respects.

Thousands of people, including school children, gathered at the National College Grounds from across Bengaluru to pay homage to him.