Hyderabad, March 23 (IANS): The Andhra Pradesh assembly on Monday condoled the death of Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore.
The house observed two minutes' silence after passing a resolution, expressing grief over Lee's death and conveying sympathies to his family.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu paid rich tributes to Lee, who died on Monday after a prolonged battle with pneumonia.
Describing him as a visionary, Naidu said he built Singapore into a modern and prosperous nation after it suffered massive damage during Second World War and after separation from Malaysia.
Naidu said he always tried to forge closer ties with countries like Singapore to develop Andhra Pradesh.
The chief minister said Singapore came forward to prepare the master plan for Andhra Pradesh's new state capital without asking for a single rupee.