Thousands pay tribute to Karthikeyan

Thiruvananthapuram,March 8: Thousands of mourners led by Kerala Governor P Sathasivam, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his cabinet colleagues on Sunday paid rich tributes to Kerala Assembly speaker G Karthikeyan, who died after battling liver cancer at a Bengaluru hospital.

The body, which was brought from the garden city by a special flight on Saturday and kept at the Speaker's residence, was today taken to the Assembly complex, state Secretariat, KPCC Headquarters, Indira Bhavan and a government school in his constituency at Aryanad.

Governor P Sathasivam laid a wreath on the body at the Darbar hall of the Secretariat while Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan, ministers and MLAs paid their respects at the state assembly.

Archbishop Soosa Pakiam, poetess Sugathakumari, members of the film fraternity and a large number of common people were among those who paid floral tributes.

The funeral will be held later this evening.

The 66-year-old Karthikeyan had been admitted to the HCG Cancer Centre in Bengaluru for Hepato Cellular Cancer (liver cancer) some days ago and he passed away after his condition deteriorated due to multi-organ failure.

PTI