CHENNAI: Former Union Minister and former organising secretary of AIADMK, Dalit Ezhilmalai (74) died of a cardiac arrest on Wednesday. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, DMK president MK Stalin, PMK founder S Ramadoss and VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan were among those condoled the death.
Ezhilmalai, one of the founding members of PMK was the first general secretary of the party in 1989. He became Union Minister of State for Health in Vajpayee government in 1998-99. He was the last Dalit MP from the State who was elected from a general constituency. In 2001, the then general secretary of AIADMK, J Jayalalithaa, fielded Ezhilmalai from Tiruchy in the by-election.