ALAPPUZHA: The land of martyrs bid tearful farewell to its proud son and Communist leader C K Chandrappan late on on Friday. The nephew of C K Chandrappan lit the funeral pyre at Valiyachudukad here. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan and Excise Minister K Babu were present at the Chudukad. Thousands of party workers and leaders had assembled at Valiyachudukad to pay last respects to the departed leader. The cremation was held many hours late from the scheduled 6 pm. The cortege carrying the body of Chandrappan entered the district at Kayamkulam at 12.30 in the afternoon. The cortege halted at the KPAC Junction, Kayamkulam, for 15 minutes for the public to pay homage. Later, it was halted at Harippad and Amabalappuzha before it reached the district headquarters. People from all walks of life irrespective of their political affiliations gathered on roadsides to see the body of the departed leader. The vehicle carrying the body arrived at TV Memorial, the party district headquarters in Alappuzha, at 4.30 pm. Earlier, the party leaders had informed that the body would reach Alappuzha by 1.30 pm. The body was kept for public viewing at the district committee office for an hour. Later, the body was taken to his ancestral home at Vayalar. The vehicle also halted at Punnapra-Vayalar Martyrs’ ground. CPI national leaders A B Bardhan, D Raja, Annie Raja, Gurudas Dasgupta, CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, Union Minister of State for Power K C Venugopal, MPs Kodikunnil Suresh, P C Chacko and P K Biju, MLAs T M Thomas Isaac, G sudhakaran, P Thilothaman and A M Arif, LDF convener Vaikom Viswan, JSS leader K R Gauri, NSS general secretary Sukumaran Nair, SNDP general secretary Vellappally Natesan and BJP former state president P K Krishnadas were among those who paid last respects to Chandrappan. CPI leaders Panniyan Ravindran, Binoy Viswom, K P Rajendran, C Divakaran, Kanam Rajendran and others accompanied the body. Party workers and other people struggled to get a glimpse of the body of Chandrappan. The CPI volunteers had to struggle hard to control the people. Traffic was disrupted at several places owing to surging crowds. A special funeral pyre was arranged at Valiyachudukad where the prominent leaders of the CPI had been cremated. On Friday, Chandrappan joined the first state secretary of Communist Party P Krishnapillai, T V Thomas, M N Govindan Nair and others at their last resting place at Valiyachudukad.
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