Thiruvananthapuram: Veteran Communist leader and former Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan passed away on Monday afternoon at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. He was 101.
Achuthanandan had been battling for his life for over a month after suffering a cardiac arrest at his son’s residence in the state capital on June 23. Since then, he had been on ventilator support in the intensive care unit. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, along with CPI(M) state secretary M.V. Govindan, rushed to the hospital to meet Achuthanandan’s family and speak with the attending doctors. Following their visit, a steady stream of political leaders began arriving at the hospital to pay their respects.
A special medical board comprising experts from the Medical College had been overseeing his treatment in coordination with hospital staff. He was also undergoing dialysis, which was temporarily suspended during the course of his illness.
Achuthanandan’s son-in-law, a doctor, had administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at home before the veteran leader was taken to the hospital last month.
Since stepping down as Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission in January 2021, Achuthanandan had been living alternately with his son and daughter in Thiruvananthapuram. His own residence in Alappuzha, which he had built during his long political career, remained closed. (IANS)
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