Congress leader and the former chairman of the erstwhile Kollam Municipal Council Karumalil Sukumaran, 70, passed away early Saturday at a private hospital here. Mr. Sukumaran was ailing for some time and his condition turned critical three days ago.
He is survived by his wife Udaya Sukumaran, who is at present a councillor in Kollam City Corporation, and two sons, Vishnu and Karun. His body was taken from his house at Tangasseri and kept for some time at the Kollam District Congress Committee office and the City Corporation complex for the public to pay their last respects.
The last rites were performed at the Mulankadakam public crematorium in the evening.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy arrived here on Saturday evening to pay his respects to Mr. Sukumaran.
Others who arrived to pay homage included the Union Minister of State for Power K.C. Venugopal, Minister for Culture K.C. Joseph, N. Peethambara Kurup MP, the former KPCC presidents C.V. Padmarajan and Thennala Balakrishna Pillai, Congress spokesman M.M. Hassan, Congress leaders K.C. Rajan, Sooranad Rajasekharan and Kadavoor Sivadasan, Mayor Prasanna Earnest, Deputy Mayor G. Lalu, MLAs K. Raju and A.A. Azeez, CPI district secretary R. Ramachadran and Kerala Shabdam managing editor B.A. Rajakrishnan.
Mr. Sukumaran entered politics through the Kerala Students Union while studying at Saint Aloysius High School here. He was chairman of the Kollam Municipal Council for 10 years. During the tenure, Mr. Sukumaran was instrumental in implementing various development projects in Kollam, including the C. Keshavan Memorial Town Hall.
He entered the electoral fray in 1968 by contesting to the Kollam Municipal Council and won. Since then, he was a municipal councillor of Kollam for 32 consecutive years.
He had also served as chairman of the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation. In the Congress, he served as KPCC executive committee member and AICC member.
