Maleth Gopinatha Pillai, who represented Aranmula in the first Kerala Assembly of 1957, passed away on Thursday. He was 86.
Mr. Pillai, who had been keeping indifferent health for the past few weeks, was admitted to a private hospital in the town and the end came at 3.45 a.m. on Thursday. The funeral will be held at his ancestral house at Aranmula at 2 p.m. on Saturday after placing the body at his son’s residence at Kummanam on the outskirts of Kottayam town.
Born at Aranmula in 1927, Mr. Pillai took his degree in law and started practice at the Chengannur bar. He was elected to the Assembly on the Congress ticket in 1957 and 1960. His last electoral battle was in 1970 when he unsuccessfully contested to Parliament from Mavelikara on the Kerala Congress ticket.
He was legislative party secretary during the tenure of R. Sanker as Chief Minister. An orator, Mr. Pillai had actively participated in the ‘liberation struggle’ and had functioned as member of the Nair Service Society director board and president of the Aranmula Palliyoda Sanghom.
Mr. Pillai leaves behind his second wife and four children.
