Chandi, 79, has been in poor health for some time and has been living in Bangalore since November last year.
Post Date – 08:02 AM, Tuesday – July 23rd 18th
Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader Oman Chandi, two-time chief minister of Kerala state, died in a private hospital in Bengaluru in the early hours of Tuesday.
Chandi, 79, has been in poor health for some time and has been living in Bangalore since November last year.
He has throat cancer. In a show of respect, the Kerala government declared Tuesday a public holiday. In addition, the state will hold two days of mourning.
Chandi will go down in Kerala Assembly history as the state’s longest serving MP. He won his first election in 1970 from the Putupalli constituency in his home district of Kottayam.
When he died, he was the current Legislative Councilor for the same constituency and served as MLA for 53 consecutive years.
His body will be airlifted from Bengaluru to the state capital Thiruvananthapuram later in the day, and the funeral is planned for Wednesday at his home parish in Putupuri, according to his family.
Last year, he beat Kerala Congress veteran KM Mani in terms of years as a lawmaker. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recalled his association with Chandy when they both made their first appearances in the Kerala state assembly in 1970, and mourning began to pour in.
“We started our political journey through student politics and have continued a long way. Chandi was always with people and it was hard to say goodbye to him,” Vijayan said.
His longtime close aide and the country’s longest-serving defense minister, AK Antony, said Chandi’s death was the greatest loss to date for him and his family.
“He will be the most popular politician in Kerala and even on his deathbed his only thought will be how to help people. Kerala will miss Chandi very much,” said Anthony, adding that since 1973 From the start, they share everything, and Chandi is the one person who can never be replaced.
