THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The unexpected demise of Nilambur Congress candidate VV Prakash, 56, just two days before the counting of votes, has come as a rude shock for the UDF. A staunch Oommen Chandy loyalist even during his KSU days, Prakash struggled hard to emerge out of the shadows of Aryadan Muhammed, another senior ‘A’ group leader from Nilambur.
Soft-spoken, Prakash never demanded a lucrative post or a party ticket, said a senior Congress leader. Prakash got the assembly seat this time after the central Congress leadership put its weight behind him in the tug of war with Aryadan Shoukath. Prakash had unsuccessfully contested from Tavanur constituency in the 2011 assembly elections against CPM-backed independent candidate K T Jaleel.
It was K C Venugopal, then as the KSU state president, in 1988 named Prakash the student body’s state general secretary. “Prakash was a model politician and was very accessible. He got the chance to contest in an election late in his career. But before the mandate came, Prakash left early, making the void even more painful,” said Venugopal. He was appointed Malappuram DCC was during former KPCC president V M Sudheeran’s tenure as state Congress chief.
On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi MP tweeted, “Prakash will be remembered as an honest and hardworking member of the Congress, always ready to offer help to the people”.Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, state Congress president Mullapally Ramachandran, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy and UDF convener M M Hassan, among others, condoled the demise of Prakash.