Veteran Congress leader KP Kunhikannan passes away

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 26 (IANS) K.P. Kunhikannan, a former Congress legislator, who was injured in an accident on September 4, died in a hospital in Kerala's Kasargod on Thursday

Kunhikannan's car had met with an accident while returning to his home in the district and had been in hospital since. On Thursday morning he breathed his last, said his family members.

The 75-year-old Congress leader represented the Udma Assembly constituency in Kasargod district in 1987.

The veteran leader was the popular Congress face in Kasargod and was the first district party president when Kasargod district was formed in 1984.

He was known for his soft demeanour and was known for his closeness to Late four-time Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunakaran.

Kunhikannan was Karunakaran’s aide in the northern district of the state.

Kunhikannan was one of Karunakaran’s most loyal followers and stood with the veteran when he took cudgels with the Congress Party High Command, starting in the late nineties.

When Karunakaran in early 2000 decided to float his own party -- Democratic Indira Congress -- he stood with Karunakaran.

Kunhikannan rose in the party through the ranks of student politics and made a mark for himself while in the Youth Congress.

After becoming a full-fledged party member, he held important posts in state-run Corporations, including the Kerala State Electricity Board.

He also became the general secretary of the party. Incidentally, in the 2021 Assembly polls, his daughter-in-law, Veena S. Nair contested the Vattiyoorkavu Assembly constituency in the state capital city but lost the polls.

Veena today is a popular leader in the party in the state capital while her husband Thilakan works in the office of the Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly, V.D. Satheesan.

Satheesan while condoling the death of his senior party colleague said the party has lost one of its tallest leaders in the erstwhile Malabar region of the state and was known for his soft demeanour.

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