New Delhi: Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day on July 24 as a mark of respect to sitting Congress member Atmaram Maganbhai Patel, who died in Gujarat on July 23.

The 85-year old Patel, who was the oldest member of the House representing Mehsana, was a close aide of newly-appointed Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Shankarsinh Vaghela, who had left the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1996.

Paying tributes to Patel, Speaker Manohar Joshi said he had been active in the co- operative movement and was conferred IFFCO award for this in 1985.

Joshi said Patel was a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce for 1999-2000 and the Consultative Committee for Heavy Industries.

He said it was decided at a meeting of leaders of political parties that the Speaker would pay tributes on behalf of the entire House and adjourn it for the day after observing a minute's silence in memory of the departed member.

PTI