KOCHI: Veteran Congress leader and former minister Dr M A Kuttappan, who passed away in Kochi on Tuesday, was a member of a rationalist group associated with M A John, a Young Turk of that time. Kuttappan was brought into Congress by the late leader K Karunakaran, with whom he parted ways in the thick of ‘A’ and ‘I’ group rivalry in the 90s.
Kuttappan, an assistant surgeon in state health services in 1980, entered politics after quitting his job. To opt out of government service, he had to pay a huge sum, including the benefits back to the government as per the bond. It was also funded by Karunakaran. However, he became a loyalist of Oommen Chandy and part of the ‘A’ faction in his later days.
“It was M A John who introduced Kuttappan to leader K Karunakaran in 1980. He told the leader about the young doctor who wanted to join the party after being attracted to the principles of Congress. Karunakaran, who had been instrumental in grooming several young leaders, was impressed with the youth. Kuttappan used to wear a shirt and pants at that time and the Leader advised him to wear khadi. I had been directed to train him to wear khadi,” said Congress leader and former minister Pandalam Sudhakaran.
Wandoor assembly seat was granted to Kuttappan in 1980 as a nominee of Congress ‘I’. However, he was denied the seat in the next election and later he switched to the ‘A’ faction following the influence of Oommen Chandy. Kuttappan, a staunch follower of Ambedkar, then returned to his profession and joined as a medical officer at Cochin Port Trust Hospital. However, he was granted the Chelakkara seat in Thrissur district in the 1987 polls which he contested successfully. Later in 1996, he was elected to the assembly from Njarakkal constituency in Ernakulam district.
Dr Kuttappan became a key figure in the Congress group rivalry during the early 1990s. Oommen Chandy quit the Karunakaran ministry in 1994 due to factionalism in the party, and the denial of the Rajya Sabha seat to Kuttappan was cited as one of the reasons behind it. As factionalism was at its peak at that time, the then chief minister Karunakaran gave Rajya Sabha seat to Muslim League even though Kuttappan had filed nominations for the contest.
The factionalism in Congress came to the fore again and Kuttappan was denied the opportunity to contest in the newly formed Vypeen constituency replacing Njarakkal, where he had won two consecutive terms. Congress lost the seat in the 2006 election and could not wrest it so far. He collapsed while attending a meeting to commemorate M A John, his political guru, at Kurianad in Kottayam in 2013. Since then he was not active in politics owing to ill health.
Dr Kuttappan was also credited for his role in the construction of the Goshree bridges and the Hudco drinking water project for Vypeen residents. The construction of the Goshree bridges was granted by the government following the intervention of Kuttappan, who was then a minister in A K Antony’s cabinet from 2001 to 2004, and he played a decisive role in the timely completion of the bridges.
The minister overseeing the construction of the state highway passing through Vypeen was a familiar scene. However, he could not get a cabinet berth when Oommen Chandy assumed power replacing Antony in 2004 as all the party nominees in the earlier cabinet had to be removed owing to the changed scenario in the party.