CONG LOSES ITS SOUTHERN ICON G KARTHIKEYAN
‘GK’ was a staunch loyalist of former CM late K Karunakaran, but fell apart with him when he felt that he was promoting his kin and he challenged it by leading a reformist movement
Senior Congress leader and Kerala Assembly Speaker G Karthikeyan passed away at a hospital in Bangalore on Saturday. He was 66 and is survived by wife Dr M T Sulekha and sons K S Anandapadman-abhan and K S Sabarinathan. Karthikeyan, who was grappling with liver cancer for some time now, was taken to the Health Care Global Hospital, Bangalore on February 19 for the powerful CyberKnife robotic radiosurgery treatment. His condition worsened three days ago and he breathed his last at 10.30 am.
Karthikeyan's body was flown to the state capital in the evening and kept at the official residence of speaker. The body will be kept at the Assembly and Durbar Hall on Sunday for people to pay homage. It will be later taken to his constituency, Aruvikkara and then to his house in the city. The cremation will take place at Thycaud Shanti kavadom at 6 pm.
All government offices and educational institutions in the state were closed on Saturday afternoon as a mark of respect to the departed leader. The government has announced a week's mourning. The Congress party has cancelled all programmes for a week. Born to NP Gopala Pillai and Vanajakshy Amma at Varkala on January 20, 1949, Karthikeyan started his political life through Kerala Students Union (KSU), the student wing of the Congress Party, at the age of 14.
Karthikeyan, who was a staunch loyalist of former chief minister late K Karunakaran, fell apart with him when he felt that he was promoting his kin and he challenged it by leading a reformist movement. The party picked Karthikeyan as Speaker after the UDF came to power with a slender margin of three seats because of his ability to carry everybody together. He proved his ability by saving the government from several difficult situations in the Assembly. Karthikeyan, who described himself as a political animal, had expressed his desire to return to active politics in July last but the party did not allow him to quit the Speaker's post. A highly read leader, Karthikeyan had shown keen interest in art and cultural activities.
The Congress has described his death as an irreparable loss to the party. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi recalled the contributions he made to strengthen the party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to Karthikeyan saying that he will be remembered as a grassroots leader who dedicated his life to serving the people of Kerala. Besides senior Congress leaders, leaders of the party's partners in the UDF and the opposition parties have also paid respect to the departed leader.