Pala: Kerala Congress (M) chairman and former State minister K M Mani was given full State honours and laid to rest at the St Thomas Cathedral cemetery yesterday.
Several political leaders such as former chief ministers A K Antony and Oommen Chandy, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Ramesh Chennithala, Kerala Congress (B) chairman R Balakrishna Pillai and IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty, AICC general secretaries K C Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik were among those who paid their last respects at Mani’s residence.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan paid his last respects as the funeral procession from the Kochi hospital reached Appanchira, near Vaikom on Wednesday evening. Assembly speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, veteran CPI(M) leader V S Achuthanandan, ministers Kadannappally Ramachandran and E Chandrasekharan paid homage when the procession reached Kaduthuruthy Wednesday evening, said media reports.
The funeral service was led by top priests of the Catholic Church, and thousands of people assembled at his residence and the Church to pay tributes to the veteran leader.
The 86-year-old former state Finance Minister has been suffering from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) for several years and was undergoing treatment at the VPS Lakeshore hospital for pulmonary disease. He breathed his last at 4.57 pm on Tuesday 9 April. He is survived by his wife and six children.