PM pays homage to Karunakaran

Thrissur, Dec 25 (PTI) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, who arrived here on Sunday afternoon, paid his last
tributes to veteran Congress leader and former Kerala chief
minister K Karunakaran.
Singh, arrived in Kochi by a special aircraft, then
reached here by a helicopter and immediately left by road to
the Town hall, where the body of 93-year-old Karunakaran, who
died on December 23, lay in state.
He was accompanied by Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi
Azad and All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary
Mohsina Kidwai.
After placing a wreath, Singh spoke to Karunakaran's son K
Muraleedharan and daughter Padmaja Venugopal, both
politicians, and spent some time with the bereaved family.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi had on Friday paid homage
to Karunakaran in Thiruvananthapuram, capital of south Indian
state Kerala where he died after a prolonged illness.
Thousands of people from different parts of the state paid
homage to Karunakaran at the town hall since this morning.
The hearse carrying the body of Karunakaran, which left
Thiruvananthapuram by road at around 2 pm Friday, took
nearly 18 hours to reach his home town Thrissur this morning.
Congress workers and public waited patiently for several
hours to pay their respects at various points on the national
highway, through which the cortege passed.
The body will be kept at the Congress office here for a
short while after which it would be taken to 'Muralimandiram',
the leader's house at nearby Punkunnam where the cremation
will take place, beside the tomb of his wife, Kalyanikitty
Amma who died 15 years back. PTI