Senior Congress leader Thalekunnil Basheer passes away at 79

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 25: Senior Congress leader, former legislator and parliamentarian Thalekunnil Basheer, passed away on Friday morning, family sources said. He was aged 79.

"He left us early Friday morning at his residence in Vembayam," news agency PTI quotes a senior Congress leader as saying. He had been undergoing treatment for heart-related ailments for the past five years.

Basheer was elected to the Lok Sabha twice from Chirayankeezhu constituency.
He was also a Rajya Sabha member twice. He was elected to the state Assembly in 1977 from Kazhakkoottam constituency but later resigned to enable senior leader A K Antony contest from there.

Married to Malayalam actor Prem Nazir's sister Suhra and they are survived by two children.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condoled the demise of Basheer and said he upheld the values of Congress politics. "Basheer used to intervene in the issues affecting the public and upheld the general interest of the society," Vijayan said in his condolences message.

Senior Congress leaders also condoled the demise of Basheer who was an executive member of KPCC for decades. The body of senior Congress leader will kept at the KPCC office for the public to pay homage and will be laid to rest later.

Basheer had also written several books including 'Rajeev Gandhi : Surya Thejassinte Ormakku', 'Velicham Kooduthal Velicham', 'Mandelayude Nattil, Gandhijiyudeyum' and 'K Damodaran muthal Berlin Kunjananthan Nair vare'.