KOLLAM: Congress leader and former minister Kadavoor Sivadasan, 87, died on Friday. He breathed his last at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. People from all walks of life paid their last respects when the body was kept at the District Congress Committee office and later at his house, Mini Sadan, near Anandavalleeswaram temple. Congress leaders A K Antony, M M Hassan, Thampanoor Ravi, Sooranadu Rajasekharan, Bindu Krishna, C V Padmarajan, RSP leader N K Premachandran, Fisheries Minister J Mercykutty Amma, Power Minister M M Mani and Forest Minister K Raju paid their respects to the late leader.
The cremation was held at the public crematorium at Mulankadakom with state honours on Friday evening. He is survived by his wife R Vijayamma and children Mini S and Shaji Sivadasan.
Born on March 11, 1932, Sivadasan completed his school education at Thevally Government School, graduation in economics at SN College in Kollam. He studied law at Law College, Ernakulam.
Sivadasan entered politics through the RSP and later switched to the Congress. He was the president of the Progressive Students Union and was active in trade union activities through the Kerala Provisional United Trade Union Congress.
He served as minister in the governments led by K Karunakaran and A K Antony handling portfolios such as Electricity, Forest, Excise, Health and Labour. He represented Kollam and Kundara Assembly constituencies consecutively for 15 years.
He was an RSP candidate in 1980 and 1982. Later, he went to the Legislative Assembly as a Congress candidate in 1991, 1996 and 2001. He is credited for establishing welfare boards for unorganised sectors. It led to the formation of welfare boards in all sectors in the state.