Hundreds of well-wishers, friends and supporters queued up at various places for the last glimpse of the MLA.
Hundreds of Congress workers and people from different walks of life pay their last respects to the working president of KPCC PT ThomasHe died on Thursday in Kochi on Wednesday.
Mr Thomas, who was undergoing treatment for cancer, died on Wednesday.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi rescheduled his program in Kochi to pay tribute to Mr Thomas.
Mr Gandhi is believed to offer his condolences to the bereaved family and pay his last respects to Mr Thomas at the Ernakulam Town Hall by 10 am.
He stayed at his hotel for about three hours and finally reached the venue by 1 pm
The original plan was to bring the body from his ancestral home Thodupuzha to Kochi by 8.30 am.
However, the program got delayed as hundreds of well-wishers, friends and supporters of the MLA queued up at various places to pay their last respects.
Mr. Gandhi, who offered his condolences to Mr. Thomas’s wife and two sons, sat with him for a few minutes in the courtyard of the town hall where the body was kept. He spoke to Mr. Thomas’s sons for a few minutes and hugged them before leaving the venue.
AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal accompanied Mr Gandhi.
A large number of party workers had gathered in the town hall since morning.
KPCC President K. Sudhakaran, Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan, Oommen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala, Mullapally Ramachandran, VM Sudheeran, Benny Behanan, Hibi Eden, TN Pratapan, Rajmohan Unnithan and Kodikkunil Suresh were present in the presence of senior Congress leaders from the state.
Kochi Mayor M Anilkumar, state Industries Minister P. Rajeev, former minister V.S. Sunilkumar, BJP leader AN Radhakrishnan, Indian Union Muslim League leaders ET Mohammad Bashir and PK Kunhalikutty also paid their last respects to Mr. Thomas.
No wreaths were placed on the body except a few bouquets of white flowers placed on a temporary platform set up to house a mobile freezer and a bouquet in the background, which had Mr Thomas’s picture. The popular song Chandra Kalabham Chaturthi Urangam Thiram from a Malayalam movie was played over and over again as per Mr Thomas’ wishes.
Later, a flute player accompanied by Tabla Ane Sitar played the song repeatedly at the venue.
Later the body was taken to Thrikkakara, the constituency represented by Mr. Thomas in the state assembly.
,