Leaders, common people flock to BJP headquarters to pay respects to Gopinath Munde

A host of leaders, including Vice President M Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday visited BJP headquarters to pay their respects to Gopinath Munde who died after a road mishap.

New Delhi: A host of leaders, including Vice President M Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday visited BJP headquarters to pay their respects to Gopinath Munde who died after a road mishap.

As soon as the body of Munde was brought from AIIMS to the party`s Ashoka Road office, people from various walks of life descended there to pay their respects and convey their condolences to the deceased`s family.

Wreaths were placed on behalf of President Pranab Mukherjee and former Prime Minister and ailing BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Munde`s daughters Pankaja Palwe, MLA from Parli in Maharashtra, and Yashashri were present at the party office. He is survived by his wife and three daughters.

Munde`s daughters repeatedly broke down as Modi, BJP veteran LK Advani and some other leaders tried to console them. Modi was seen making some enquiries and Pankaja was narrating something.

Along with Ansari, Modi, and Advani, others who paid their respects included BJP chief and Union Minister Rajnath Singh and his ministerial colleagues Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Thavar Chand Gehlot, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Ananth Kumar, Ram Vilas Paswan (of LJP), Harsh Vardhan and Prakash Javadekar.

Rahul Gandhi was accompanied by Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat as he offered his tributes to Munde at the BJP headquarters.

RSS head Mohan Bhagwat, his deputy Bhaiyyaji Joshi, spokesperson Ram Madhav and VHP chief Ashok Singhal also went to pay tributes to Munde`s mortal remains which was given the ceremonial guard of honour by the Army.
The body, in a glass casket, was taken in a flower-decked gun carriage from BJP office to the airport from where it was flown to Mumbai for cremation tomorrow.

Among others who paid their respects were Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan, Vijay Goel, Ramesh Pokhriyal and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

JD(U) president Sharad Yadav and BJD leader Jay Panda also turned up to offer their tributes.

A contingent of BJP leaders, including several MLAs, from Maharashtra also reached here to be alongside the body of their beloved leader.

A huge rush of party workers and leaders was seen outside the office, making a beeline to offer their last respects.

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