PARALI (BEED): Limbabai Munde, 90, was brought on a chair at Vaidyanath sugar factory ground on Wednesday morning. She wanted to see her son, as they had not met for two years. She was told only Wednesday morning about the tragic incident.
Munde was supposed to attend a victory rally in Parli on Tuesday. Instead, it had turned into the funeral. Braving the scorching 42 degree temperature in the afternoon, the mother gave final good bye to her son at the sugar factory which was nurtured by him.
The emotions were running high among the crowd of thousands who had gathered to see their leader for the one last time. Some of them pelted stones while some shouted slogans to express their grief and anger.
The mortal remain of Munde was brought to the cremation ground at around 12pm with lakhs of followers crying and running behind the truck where his body was kept. His daughter Pankaja lead the procession. A memorial for Munde will be built at the same place where the cremation took place.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Goa CM Manohar Parikar BJP leaders L.K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Prakash Javadekar, Vinod Tawade, Raosaheb Danve, Kirit Somaiya and Rajiv Pratap Rudhi had come to console the Munde family. NCP minister R.R. Patil, Jitendra Awhad and Congress minister Harshwardhan Patil, also attended the funeral. CM Prithviraj Chavan and MNS Chief Raj Thackeray reached after the funeral was over.
There was a mild lathi charge and stone pelting when the crowd was stopped by police from going near to the pyre. The barricates were broken and one of the pandals erected for the family members of Munde fell down as the people tried to climb the polls of it. Even the pandal for dignitaries had to vacate due to the crowd.
