State to bid adieu to Kodiyeri, body to reach Kannur at 11 am, public homage today

KANNUR: The state is all set to pay their last homage to CPM's strong leader, former state secretary, politburo member and former home and tourism minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. The body will be brought to Thalassery in Kannur at 11 am. There will be public homage at Thalassery Town Hall the whole day. The body will be brought to the airport from Chennai Sri Ramachandra Hospital at 9 am. The body will be taken to Thalassery Town Hall from here. The process of embalming the body is in progress at Ramachandra Hospital. The body will then be shifted to the air ambulance. A flight has been chartered for this and other formalities have been completed. Kodiyeri’s wife Vinodini and son Bineesh Kodiyeri will accompany the body.

After the public homage at Thalassery Town Hall, the body will be taken to his residence at Madapeedika in Kodiyeri by night. There will be public homage till 10 am on Monday. The body will then be taken to Kannur district committee office and will be kept there. He will be laid to rest at 3 pm in Payyambalam. A hartal will be observed in Mahi, Thalassery, Dharmadom and Kannur constituencies on Monday as a mark of respect. Arrangements for public viewing are in progress at Thalassery Town Hall.

Kodiyeri was undergoing treatment for cancer. He was 69 years old. He died at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai at 8 pm last night. He was admitted to Apollo Hospital a month ago. After the surgery, his health condition remained unchanged. His condition worsened and was put on ventilator yesterday afternoon. CPM state secretary M V Govindan reached the hospital by night.

At the time of death his wife, his wife and two sons were besides him.