Congress leader Prayar Gopalakrishnan passes away

Congress leader from Kerala and former MLA Prayar Gopalakrishnan died on Saturday at a nearby hospital. He was 72.

Sources close to the party said the former legislator was admitted to a hospital while he was on his way to Thiruvananthapuram after he felt uneasiness.

Gopalakrishnan was the president of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) which is the apex body of temples in the state. He had also functioned as the chairman of the state-run milk cooperative society MILMA for a long period.

Meanwhile, political leaders including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala condoled the demise of Gopalakrishnan.

In his condolence message, Vijayan said Gopalakrishnan had led MILMA and the TDB for a long period.

”His death is a huge loss to the Congress party. It was Gopalakrishnan who made MILMA one of the proudest institutions in the cooperative sector of the state,” Chennithala said in his message.

Ministers V Sivankutty and J Chinjurani also condoled the demise of Gopalakrishnan.

Gopalakrishnan had represented Chadayamangalam constituency in 2001.