DMK MLA Passes Away

Chennai: DMK MLA representing Vikravandi constituency, N Pugazhenthi, passed away on Saturday at the Villupuram Government Medical College Hospital, where he was admitted after he complained of uneasiness while attending the Chief Ministers’ campaign meeting at Vikravandi on Friday evening.

Also the DMK’s Villupuram South District secretary, Pugazhenthi, who was 71, is survived by wife, a son and three daughters. Hailing from Athiyur village in Sankarapuram of Villupuram district, he began his political career in the party in 1973 as a branch secretary.

Governor R N Ravi, Chief Minister M K Stalin, Congress leader in the State Assembly K Selvaperunthagai, and CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan were among those who condoled the passing away of Pugazhenthi, who had not been doing well for some time and was even admitted to hospital.

Soon after he was rushed to the hospital from the venue of the Chief Minister’s meeting, DMK leader K Ponmudi was among those who visited him in the hospital, where he breathed his last on Saturday.

The Chief Minister, who spoke to the doctors at the hospital over phone, said that he was shocked to hear about his passing away because he expected him to recover. He remembered him as a hard working devoted party member who approached him only with people’s grievances.

Pugazhenthi, who was panchayat union president in 1996, unsuccessfully contested in a by-election to the Vikravandi Assembly constituency in 2019 before he was fielded in the 2021 elections from the same constituency.