By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvananthapuram


Kerala Legislative Assembly Speaker G Karthikeyan died of liver cancer yesterday. He was 66.
The senior Congress Party leader was admitted to a hospital in Bengaluru recently. Doctors put him on ventilator last week as his condition worsened and he fell unconscious. The death was announced at 10.50am.
His body was brought from Bengaluru by a special aircraft in the evening.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Karthikeyan would be remembered as a grassroots leader who dedicated his life to serving the people.
“My condolences to the family and well-wishers,” Modi said in a statement. “May his soul rest in peace.”
Congress president Sonia Gandhi said the void he left behind would be hard to fill.
She described Karthikeyan as “a leader whose political career spanned student, youth, legislative and administrative politics.”
Kerala announced a week of mourning during which no official functions will be held and the national flag will fly at half-mast. A holiday was declared yesterday afternoon.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy received the body at the airport.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Industry Minister P K Kunhalikutty and Social Justice Minister M K Muneer accompanied the body from Bengaluru.
“He was a great human being. He always remained composed, well-mannered and loving,” said V S Achuthanandan, the 92-year-old leader of the opposition in the assembly.
His deputy Kodiyeri Balakrishnan agreed: “He was my closest friend. He always upheld high values and he could carry the House along with those values.”
In October last year, Karthikeyan sought expert treatment at the Mayo Clinic in the US and returned after a week.
He did not take part in the assembly session held in December. He also missed the budget session that began last week.
A six-time legislator and two-time minister, Karthikeyan was last seen in public at the opening ceremony of the National Games held here on January 31. He fell ill yet again after a few days.
Karthikeyan who began his political career as an activist of the Kerala Students Union KSU and went on to become its president, had held the portfolios of electricity and food in two cabinets led by A K Antony in 1995 and 2001.
He was first elected to the assembly from Thiruvananthapuram North constituency in 1982.
A former member of the All India Congress Committee, Karthikeyan also served as general secretary and vice-president of the party in Kerala and was the deputy leader of the opposition in the last assembly.
In the 90s, Karthikeyan was a firebrand leader of the Congress. He, along with Ramesh Chennithala and M I Shanavas led an intra-group battle against then chief minister K Karunakaran’s attempts to bring his son K Muraleedharan into party leadership.
Manjalamkuzhi Ali, the urban affairs minister who is also the producer of The King, the political thriller with superstar Mammootty in the lead, remembers him as a film buff and voracious reader.
“After watching The King together, he told me he liked the film though his party men were shown in bad light,” he said.
The film was inspired by Congress politics in Kerala and many characters resemble top leaders.
His revolt along with Chennithala and Shanavas against Karunakaran also finds reference in the film.