Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 9 (PTI) Hundreds of people from various walks of life on Saturday paid homage to CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran who died following a heart attack in a private hospital in Kochi.

His mortal remains were brought here in the morning in a special flight and kept for public homage at party headquarters, PS Memorial, in the capital city.

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Besides a large number of party workers, leaders of various political parties and the CPI Ministers arrived there to have a glimpse of the leader and pay their final respects.

Many leaders and party workers could be seen breaking down in tears as they were unable to come to terms with the unexpected demise of Rajendran.

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CPI national secretary D Raja and former Defence Minister A K Antony and Agriculture Minister P Prasad were among those who became emotional while paying their respects.

The mortal remains were later taken to his native village, Kanam, in Kottayam district.

The cremation would be held there on Sunday, party sources added.

The 73-year-old leader had been undergoing treatment at the hospital for multiple ailments including heart and kidney related issues and diabetes. His right foot was recently amputated to contain the spread of an infection due to diabetes and had applied for three months leave from the party responsibilities due to health reasons.

Though the leader had expressed confidence of a speedy recovery, his health condition suddenly worsened on Friday evening following a cardiac arrest.

The news of the demise of the veteran leader came as a shock for everyone cutting across political parties in the state.

His death comes at a time when Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other ministers are taking part in the Nava Kerala outreach programme in this district on Friday.

The CM and his cabinet colleagues visited the hospital after wrapping up the scheduled programmes and paid their last respects.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)