THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Reluctant initially to join politics when his mentor and veteran Congress leader K Karunakaran picked him up for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency in 1984, A Charles went on to bag the rare distinction of being a Member of Parliament from the capital city for three consecutive terms.
Having no political background, Charles was persuaded by Karunakaran to join politics as part of his strategy to consolidate the support of the Nadar community, to which Charles belonged, after the sitting MP, Neelalohitadasan Nadar, crossed over to the LDF.
After winning the seat for the first time in 1984, he continued to represent the constituency in 1989 and 1991.
However, when he contested for the fourth time in 1996, he tasted defeat at the hands of CPI’s K V Surendranath.
Charles had always stood with Karunakaran and the group that he represented. After his defeat in 1996, he was not in active politics. However, when Karunakaran and V S Sivakumar contested from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in 1998 and 1999 respectively, he became again active and was the election committee chairman for the two elections. His clout among the community members was quite evident in the recent elections when Shashi Tharoor visited the former at his residence before starting the campaign.
His close proximity with former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was also well known. At a time when Parliament was rocked by the Bofors controversy, Charles was seen offering him all-out support.
Born to Abraham and Daly on November 14, 1930 at Kanjiramkulam near here, Charles had his primary education at Nellimoodu school. After graduating from the University College, he got his LLB from the Law College. Plunging into social work at the age of 20, Charles became a council member of the South Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India (CSI) in 1950 and became its secretary thrice.
It was during his stint as its secretary that many of the initiatives of the Diocese such as the Karakonam Medical College, Christian College at Kattakada, Varkala Blind School, Valakam Deaf and Dumb School, Kazhakkoottam Mission Hospital, Kundara Mission Hospital and Christian Mission Service were started.
When Karunakaran picked him up for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency for the first time in 1984, he was a member of the Kerala Public Service Commission.
Ministers Condole Charles’ Demise
T’Puram: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his Cabinet colleagues, Speaker G Karthikeyan, KPCC president V M Sudheeran and leaders of various political parties on Sunday condoled the death of former parliamentarian A Charles, who passed away here. In his condolence message, Chandy said that Charles was a politician who was close to the city and its people. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said that the contribution of Charles towards the development of the city when he was a Parliament member could not be ignored. Entering politics after resigning his government job, he was an asset to the Congress party, he added.
