THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Chathannoor MLA and state Congress general secretary G Prathapavarma Thampan passed away on Thursday. He was 62. He collapsed at his house on Thursday evening. Though he was taken to the Kollam District Hospital, his life could not be saved.
He is survived by his wife Deepa and children Gokul Varma and Chaitra. The cremation will be held at his ancestral home at Peroor at 4 pm on Friday. State Congress president K Sudhakaran and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan condoled his death.
A loyalist of senior Congress leader A K Antony, Prathapavarma Thampan was known as a no-nonsense leader. A PhD holder in political science, he is the son of P Gopala Panicker and K Bharathi. He entered politics through KSU.
He became the KSU school unit president in 1974 and went on to become Youth Congress state general secretary during 1988 - 2000. In 1987, Thampan was stabbed by a party worker during a student agitation in front of the traffic island before the Secretariat. This led to long-term hospitalisation, but he bounced back to life.
Due to his hard-hitting speeches and closeness with senior ‘A’ group leaders, he was selected as the UDF candidate in Chathannoor constituency in the 2001 Assembly election. He went on to win the seat with a low margin of 547 votes. He tasted defeat in the 2006 assembly polls in Chathannur.
For a long time, Thampan did not hold any posts in Congress. It was in 2012 that he got the Kollam Congress chief post but was abruptly removed in 2014. He was appointed state general secretary last year after K Sudhakaran became the state Congress chief. Thampan had attended a meeting of Kundara and Chathannur constituencies on Wednesday ahead of the Congress district chief’s padayatra scheduled for Tuesday.