The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee has expressed his grief the moment he came to know that the union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was 67, was no more. It may be noted that Vilasrao Deshmukh suffered serious liver ailment and breathed his last at a private hospital in Chennai, where he was admitted a week ago.

Even the leaders of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were struck with grief after they learnt about Vilasrao Deshmukh's demise. The two houses of the Parliament paid respects to Vilasrao Deshmukh and postponed the session. Apparently, none really expected Vilasrao Deshmukh would expire so soon since the doctors said his condition was stable. In fact, Vilasrao Deshmukh would have not lost his life had the prospective brain dead donor, who was supposed to donate all his organs to Vilasrao, not suffered cardiac arrest this morning.

(AW Phani)