LIVE:Gopinath Munde's mortal remains consigned to flames

Beed (Maharashtra): The mortal remains of senior BJP leader and union minister Gopinath Munde, who was killed in a road accident in New Delhi Tuesday, were consigned to the flames in Parali-Vaijnath, his birthplace in Beed district, Wednesday afternoon.His teary-eyed eldest daughter and legislator Pankaja Munde-Palve performed the last rites and lit the funeral pyre as Munde had only three daughters and no son.Pankaja's action was symbolic and was expected to send positive signals in the Marathwada region which has been regularly in the news for incidents of female foeticide.A sea of humanity that included many union and state ministers, political leaders from all political parties, BJP activists and locals witnessed the state funeral ceremony accorded to Munde.The people raised slogans of ‘Gopinath Munde Amar Rahe', ‘Gopinath Munde Come Back' and ‘Gopinath Munde Zindabad' as the funeral ceremonies got underway.The Maharashtra government has declared a three-day period of state mourning in honour of the departed leader.Here are the LIVE updates:Gopinath Munde's dead body being taken to airport.Munde's last rites to begin from 10 a.m.Funeral of Gopinath Munde to be held at 2 p.m. in his native village of Parali-Vaijnath today. His daughter Pankaja, a BJP MLA, is expected to perform the last rites.Senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu and Harsh Vardhan are likely to attend Munde's funeral at his village.The funeral will take place in the grounds of the Vaijnath Sugar Factory at Pangri village which Munde owned.There could be a delay in Gopinath Munde's reaching Latur as there is heavy rain at the Mumbai airport.Munde's body has now been flown to Latur from the Mumbai airport.Rahul Mahajan, Munde's nephew, also arrived at the Latur airport.BJP MP Rajeev Pratap Rudy, Prakash Javadekar is at Latur airport from where Munde's body will be airlifted in a helicopter to his native village Parli. BJP leaders Smriti Irani and Ananth Kumar also to go to Beed for Munde's funeral.Munde's body arrives in Latur for last rites.Gopinath Munde's body flown from Latur to Parali for last rites.Munde's mortal remains reach his native village Parli where the cremation to take place at around 2 pm.Crowds gather at grounds of the Vaijnath Sugar Factory at Pangri village to pay their last respects to the leader.Heavy police deployment at the grounds where Munde's body has been kept for his supporters to pay their last respect.Crowd gets emotional before Munde's funeral, daughter Pankaja appeals for calm.Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray pays respect to the late leader at his native village Parli.