Hundreds of people paid homage to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader P.P. Mukundan when his mortal remains were brought to Mararji Bhavan, the BJP Kannur district office, on Thursday.
The mortal remains were kept at the BJP office from 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.
CPI(M) Kannur district secretary M.V. Jayarajan recalled Mr. Mukundan as a leader who was always in the forefront of eliminating political tension in Kannur.
Union Minister V. Muraleedharan said Mr. Mukundan’s demise created a vacuum in the party and that it was a personal loss for him. He was accepted even by his political opponents as he treated everyone with equal respect, he added.
“It was Mukundettan who gave courage to me and my family when the then Nayanar government implicated me in a fake case while I was an ABVP activist studying at Brennan College,” Mr. Muraleedharan said.
Mr. Mukundan played a major role in mentoring leaders in the party, said P.K. Krishnadas, a member of the BJP national executive committee.
District Congress Committee president Martin George, BJP national vice president A.P. Abdullakutty, Member of Parliament P. Santhosh Kumar, BJP State president K. Surendran, and BJP leaders K.N. Radhakrishnan and K. Ranjith paid their last respects to the departed leader.
The body was later taken to Mr. Mukundan’s hometown at Manathana in a specially prepared KSRTC bus.
The body was cremated at Kolangarayath Tharavadu crematorium at 4 p.m.
Jharkhand Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan and West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose were among those who attended the all-party condolence meeting held in the evening.
