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Profile
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Name: |
Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan |
Birth Date:
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20 October 1923
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| Birthplace: |
Alappuzha, Kerala |
| Occupation: |
Chief Minister |
| Born In: |
Kerala |
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Biography
Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan, (Malayalam: വേലിക്കകത്ത് ശങ്കരന് അച്യുതാനന്ദന്) (20 October 1923 – ) is the twentieth Chief Minister of Kerala state, India. He has been a polit bureau member of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) since 1985 and is popularly known as "Comrade VS".
Born on 20 October 1923 to Sankaran and Accamma in Alappuzha district of Kerala state, Achuthanandan had to face poverty from a very early age. He lost his mother when he was just four years old and father at 11 years. This forced him to give up his studies after finishing 7th standard in school . He started working by helping his elder brother in a tiny village cloth shop. Later he took up the job of meshing coir to make ropes at a coir factory.
He entered into the world of politics through Trade Union activities and joined State Congress in 1938. Like many young men of his age, he became disillusioned with the policies of the Congress and became a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in 1940. He was imprisoned for five years and six months during Freedom Struggle period and has gone under-ground for four and half years in his decades old political career. He was active in the Punnapra-Vayalar uprising. He is the only one alive among the 32 members who left the CPI National Council in 1964 to form the CPI(M).
Achuthanandan had served many positions in his long political career. He was the Kerala State Secretary of the CPI(M) between 1980 and 1992 and he became the member of the Polit Bureau since 1985. He was also active in parliamentary politics as he became the member of Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1967, 1970, 1991, 2001 and 2006. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 1992 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006. After the Assembly Elections in 2006, CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) gained an absolute majority in the house and Achuthanandan had unanimously elected as the leader of the front. He took oath of office on 18th May, 2006 as the twentieth Chief Minister of Kerala.
He gained a huge popular support during his stint as the opposition leader. He took active personal interests in making visits to even the remotest of places, where ever he believed that the ruling government was not doing things in a right fashion, or done in an outright dishonest way.
Assembly Elections,2006
During the assembly elections held in Kerala in April-May 2006, VS Achuthanandan defeated Satheesan Pacheeni of the United Democratic Front by a large margin of 20,017 votes in Malampuzha constituency in Palghat district. It has been said that with this win VS successfully countered the accusation that when the party wins VS loses, and if VS wins the party loses. The State Committee and Polit Bureau meeting unanimously decided to make Achuthanandan the Chief Minister of Kerala. The swearing in ceremony took place on May 18th, 2006 at central stadium Trivandrum.
It should be noted that when the prospective candidate list for CPI(M) was published (for the elections of 2006), the name of Achuthanandan was conspiciously absent. This created an uproar across the state, and processions and protests were held in support of Achuthanandan. The Polit Bureau finally succumbed to the pressure, and decided to field VS from Malampuzha.
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