BJP supporters hold up a portrait of Gopinath Munde during a memorial ceremony at party headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday
Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde's sudden and unfortunate death in a road accident in the capital on Tuesday has cast a shadow on the inaugural session of the 16th Lok Sabha.
The swearing-in of the pro-tem Speaker will take place in the Rashtrapati Bhawan, or the Presidential Palace, at 10 am on Wednesday. The Lok Sabha will, however, be adjourned after the customary references to the departed soul, union parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu told NDTV.
The newly-elected members of the Lok Sabha will now be sworn in on Thursday. The election of the Speaker will take place on Friday, as had been initially decided.
The first session of the next Lok Sabha was to begin on June 4 and end on June 11. Two days had been set aside for swearing in of the new members. President Pranab Mukherjee's address to a joint session of Parliament has been fixed for Monday.
The Union Cabinet, which met at 4 pm in the Prime Minister's South Block office on Tuesday, passed a resolution condoling the death of one of their colleagues. "In his untimely death, the nation has lost an experienced and visionary leader who was held in high esteem across the political spectrum," it said.
As a mark of respect to Mr Munde, one of the tallest BJP leaders, Prime Minister deferred his meeting with secretaries of all ministries and departments. The first-of-its-kind event was slated to take place at 6 pm today.
The government also decided to observe a national mourning today. The tri-colour, or the national, flag was flying at half-mast on all buildings housing government offices in the capital, all state capitals and union territories.
The flag will also be flown at half-mast during Mr Munde's funeral in his ancestral village, Parli, tomorrow. His body will be cremated with full state honours.
Former deputy minister L K Advani, BJP president and union home minister Rajnath Singh and his cabinet colleague Nitin Gadkari will be present during the funeral.