From correspondents in Tamil Nadu, India, 05:00 PM IST

Chennai - Floral tributes were paid to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur where he was assassinated this day 15 years ago.

Tamil Nadu Congress president M. Krishnaswamy led party workers in paying tributes at the memorial in Sriperumbudur, 80 km south of here.

Union Minister of State for Textiles E.V.K.S. Elangovan also joined them in offering tributes to the late leader.

Various events were organised across the state on the occasion.

A function was held at the Sathyamurthy Bhavan, the Congress headquarters here, and party workers garlanded a portrait of the late leader.

A blood donation camp, organised by the party, was inaugurated by Union Minister for Communication Dayanidhi Maran of the DMK party.

The 46-year-old former Indian prime minister had died instantly when a powerful bomb, hidden in a garland of flowers, went off. He was in Sriperumbudur to address a rally during the 1991 general elections. It later emerged that a suicide squad of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was behind the attack.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)