Kerala: CPI-M leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan passes away

Chennai/Thiruvananthapuram, October 1, 2022

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who was often referred to as the smiling face of the party's Kerala unit, passed away on Saturday at a private hospital in Chennai.

The 68-year-old politburo member was suffering from cancer. He was air-lifted to Chennai for advanced medical care in the last week of August.

He is survived by his wife and two sons.

CPI-M state secretary M. V. Govindan has reached Chennai after hearing about his demise.

A five-time legislator from Thalassery in Kannur district, Kodiyeri, as he was often known, grew up in the party, starting as a student leader, and rose to become a politburo member of the party. He was the Kerala Home Minister in the cabinet of V. S. Achuthanandan from 2006-11.

In 2015, for the first time, he became the state party secretary, the position that he held till he quit in August, owing to ill health.

His party colleague and politburo member M.A. Baby said that the body would be flown to Kannur and the last rites would be held in his home district on Monday.

During the Emergency days he was jailed for several months.

Condolences have started to pour in from all corners and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who scheduled to leave a foreign trip has now postponed it, and will reach Kannur on Sunday.

IANS