A leader who journeyed through Congress party's worst, best in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: A homegrown politician, Oommen Chandy's six-decade long political career has been inextricably linked to the ups and downs of his party in Kerala's bipolar political ecosystem.

Kerala assembly's longest serving MLA and a true-blue Congress worker, the former Chief Minister passed away in Bengaluru on a day his party's entire top brass had gathered in the city for an opposition unity session.

The 79-year old leader who always stood out in his trademark white cotton shirt and dhoti worn usually with a cordial smile, breathed his last in a private hospital in Bengaluru early this morning.

Chandy was undergoing treatment in Bengaluru for the past few months. Ever since he cut his political teeth as an activist of the Congress' campus outfit, Kerala Students Union (KSU), Chandy had remained a key player in state politics till he breathed his last.

Chandy had played a decisive role in building Congress as a mass movement in Kerala, along with senior colleagues A K Antony and Vayalar Ravi. Born and brought up in a traditional heartland, Puthuppally, near Kottayam, Chandy gained popularity in the state after he became the state president of the KSU with the blessings of Antony and Ravi.

A thrust imparted by the young leadership of the resurgent Congress since the early 1960s immensely contributed to the party to emergence as a counter-weighing force to challenge the political dominance of the Marxists in the state.

Young leaders like Chandy eventually emerged as an alternative power centre in the Congress in Kerala, dominated by traditional leadership. This marked the point of origin of sharp factionalism, with one of the poles led by late party stalwart K Karunakaran.

During the period of strong infighting in the Congress state unit, Chandy was seen as a trusted lieutenant of Antony who was the undisputed leader of the anti-Karunakaran faction in the state.

Chandy had a critical role in unseating Karunakaran as Chief Minister in 1995, which paved the way for Antony's return to the post for the second time.

Chandy was part of the faction that broke away from the Indian National Congress (INC), raising objections to the nomination of Indira Gandhi as the party candidate for the Chikmagluru byelection when the Janata Party was in power post-emergency. (PTI)