Oomen Chandy: A real people's leader

Kochi: Oomen Chandy, former chief minister of Kerala, senior Congress leader, and a prominent political figure in the state passed away on Tuesday. Oomen Chandy  fondly known as OC and Kunjoonju was always reachable to his people. His programme "Janasambarka paripady" (Mass contact programme) which was launched to hear people's complaints when he was the Chief Minister was very popular. His illustrious and long political career with many ups and downs is a lesson for political students.

Oomen Chandy was one of the longest-serving members of the Kerala Legislative Assembly. He was a member of the Assembly for 53 years. He represented the Puthuppally constituency 12 times, since 1970. And he is the only MLA in Kerala elected 12 consecutive times from the same constituency.
His political journey began as an activist of KSU (Kerala Students Union) and he was elected as president of the Youth Congress in 1970.

Chandy served as minister in Kerala government on different occasions and his first term was as Labour minister from 1977 to 1978 in AK Antony government. He became the home minister in the second K Karunakaran cabinet from 1981 to 1982. Chandy served as the finance minister in the fourth Karunakarana ministry from 1991 to 1994. During the five-decade-long tenure as an MLA, Chandy occupied ministerial roles for around 12 years. And he served as the chief minister of Kerala two times in 2004 and 2011.

His political career was not immune to controversies and he faced corruption allegations, especially in Palomlein import case and the solar power project. But he got a clean chit in all the corruption allegations from the court.

Chandy was active in the political and social life of Kerala till caught up with health issues. He attended Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kerala, ignoring his ailing health condition.