P. Ramachandran dead

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, MAY 23. Mr. P. Ramachandran, former Kerala Governor and Union Minister, died here this morning after a brief illness. He was 80.

Mr. Ramachandran, who was suffering from chest congestion, was admitted to a private hospital a week ago and was discharged last night. He is survived by wife, son and two daughters.

Born on July 11, 1921, Mr. Ramachandran, a veteran Congressman and a close associate of Kamaraj, is the managing trustee of the TNCC Charitable Trust.

Mr. Ramachandran, popularly known as Paa. Raa., took to politics early in life when he joined the Congress during the freedom struggle.

He was a member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1957 to 1967 and the chief whip from 1962 to 1967. When the Congress split in 1969, he remained with the Congress(O) and later became its State president.

After the death of Kamaraj in 1975, he continued to lead the party, though many of his partymen joined the Congress(I) in 1976. However, he merged the Congress(O) with the Janata Party in 1977.

Elected to the Lok Sabha as a Janata Party candidate from the Madras Central constituency in 1977, he served as Union Minister for Energy in the Morarji Desai Cabinet.

After the fall of the Morarji Desai Government in 1979, he joined the Congress(I) headed by Indira Gandhi.

He was Chairman of the Food Corporation of India in 1980 after which, in 1981, he became the Governor of Kerala, a post he held till 1988. He kept away from active politics since 1989 but continued to be the managing trustee of the TNCC Charitable Trust.

Governor condoles

Our Thiruvananthapuram Special Correspondent writes:

The Kerala Governor, Mr. Sukhdev Singh Kang, described Mr. P. Ramachandran as a noble statesman and an efficient administrator whose stint as Governor will always be remembered by the people for his genial ways, simplicity and transparency, all tinged with compassion.

The Chief Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony, hailed him as a true Gandhian, patriot, able administrator and a person who led a simple and clean public life.

He added that in his demise Kerala had lost a bosom friend.

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