Former Congress MLA Lata Priyakumar, who represented Arakkonam constituency for one term from 1991 and was a member of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, passed away at a private hospital in Chennai on Sunday morning. She was 57.
Party sources said Lata had been ailing in recent weeks and had not responded well to a recent surgery at a private hospital.
Lata was the daughter of late Congress veteran Maragatham Chandrasekar. She had risen in the party’s ranks through its youth wing and as an aide to her mother. She contested the SC-reserved Arakkonam constituency in the 1991 Assembly elections and won with a margin of almost 31,000 votes, amounting to 27.9 per cent of all votes polled, over DMK’s G Mani. The victory came in the massive sympathy wave in the aftermath of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Lata’s body was taken to her residence in Anna Nagar later on Sunday, and her final rites are scheduled to be conducted on Monday morning.
A number of functionaries of the State unit of the Congress visited the hospital to pay their respects. Congress leaders from the State expressed grief over Lata’s death, and offered their condolences to her family. “She was an example of the long-standing familial culture of the Congress,” said State Congress chief B S Gnanadesikan in a statement, recalling her contributions to the party.