Communist Marxist Party General Secretary K R Arvindakshan passes away at 66

Thiruvananthapuram: Communist Marxist Party (CMP) General Secretary, K R Arvindakshan, passed away at a private hospital in Kozhikode early on Wednesday.

He was 66.

Condoling his death, Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, said Arvindakshan's death was a great loss to the social and political arena of the state in general and left political movement in particular.

His death has come at a time when efforts were on to strengthen the left movement in the state, Vijayan said adding that Aravindakshan was a good orator and organiser.

Aravindakshan was also the former President of the state Cooperative bank.

The funeral is expected to be held on Thursday at Kottayam.

The CMP, which was floated by veteran communist leader, M V Raghavan, after his expulsion from CPI(M) in 1986, had later split.

While the faction led by Aravindakshan, went with the ruling CPI(M)-LDF, another faction led by C P John remained with the Congress-led UDF.