Former Kerala chief minister and Congress Working Committee member Oommen Chandy died in a hospital in Bengaluru on Tuesday morning. He was 79.
Chandy was undergoing treatment in a Bengaluru hospital, where he died at around 4.30 am, his son Chandy Oommen announced through a Facebook post.
The body is being flown to Thiruvananthapuram, where his body will be kept at the Congress State Committee office and later at the Darbar hall of the Secretariat for people to pay their homage. His funeral will be held on Thursday at his native place Puthuppally in Kottayam.
During a long political career, Chandy served as Labour’s Minister in 1977 in the K. Karunakaran Ministry and held the same portfolio in the Ministry led by A.K. Antony in the succeeding cabinet. He was the Home Minister in the K. Karunakaran cabinet from December 1981 to March 1982. He also held the Finance portfolio in the UDF ministry of 1991.
Chandy took over as Chief Minister in 2004 following the resignation of A.K. Antony. He became CM a second time in 2011. He was also Opposition Leader during 2006-2011.
His ‘mass contact’ programme to address the problems faced by the public during his term as Chief Minister was highly popular.
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