Beed (Maharashtra): The village of Parali in Maharashtra's Beed district was transformed into a sea of grieving humanity as union minister Gopinath Munde's body reached here by a helicopter from Latur Wednesday morning.
Hundreds of youth and party workers ran towards the chopper to catch a glimpse of their beloved leader who was born in a small hamlet here, grew and carved a niche for himself in national politics.
The impatient, jostling and often crying men and women braved the scorching heat of the parched and backward Marathwada region which lost its third son of the soil in barely eight years -- first it was Pramod Mahajan, later Vilasrao Deshmukh and now Munde.
Leaders, including union minister Prakash Javadekar and Munde's eldest daughter and legislator Pankaja Munde-Palve, fervently appealed on the microphone to the crowds to remain calm as people could be seen thumping their chests and heads.
