Oommen Chandy Demise: 11 Things To Know About Former Kerala CM

Senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy, who served as the Chief Minister of Kerala Twice, passed away in Bengaluru in the early hours of Tuesday.

From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, politicians, cutting across party lines, have mourned the death of Chandy.

Here are 11 things that everyone should know about the Kerala politician:

1. He joined Congress as an activist of its campus outfit Kerala Students Union (KSU) and remained a key player in state politics till he breathed his last.
2. Chandy had a sterling record in Kerala politics, returning to the state Assembly 53 years in a row from his home constituency.
3. He was first elected from Puthuppally on a Congress ticket in 1970.
4. Puthupally, under the stewardship of Chandy, was the only Constituency left untouched by the political shifts that the state witnessed for more than half a century.
5. Chandy had a critical role in unseating Karunakaran as Chief Minister in 1995, which paved the way for A K Antony's return to the post for the second time.
6. Chandy was part of the faction that broke away from the Indian National Congress (INC), raising objections to the nomination of Indira Gandhi as the party candidate for the Chikkamagaluru byelection when the Janata Party was in power post-emergency.
7. However, Chandy, along with Antony, returned to the parent organisation after a brief association with the CPI (M)-led LDF in the early 1980s.
8. He was the 10th Chief Minister of Kerala from 2004 to 2006 and again from 2011 to 2016. He was also Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2011.
9. He is the longest-serving MLA in the Kerala Legislative Assembly and the only Indian Chief Minister to achieve award for public service from the United Nations.
10. Chandy faced his severest challenge towards the end of his tenure as CM when the solar scam broke out.
11. Chandy had also served as Minister of Labour, Home, and Finance in various governments headed by K Karunakaran and A K Antony.