Oommen Chandy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oommen Chandy

Leader of Opposition, Kerala 19th Chief Minister of Kerala
Preceded by	A.K. Antony
Succeeded by	V.S. Achuthanandan
Constituency	Puthuppally

Born	October 31, 1943 (1943-10-31) (age 64) Kumarakom, Kerala
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse	Mariamma Oommen
Children	1 son and 2 daughters
Residence	Puthuppally, Kerala
Religion	Christianity
As of Nov 2, 2007 Source: Govt. of Kerala

Oommen Chandy (Malayalam: ഉമ്മന് ചാണ്ടി) born 31 October 1943 in Kumarakom, Kottayam District in Kerala was the nineteenth Chief Minister of Kerala, India. He was born to late K.O. Chandy and Baby Chandy. He lives in Puthuppally in Kottayam District.

1 Early life
2 Political life
3 Chief Minister
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Early life

Being addressed by friends and close family members as "kunjoonju", Oommen Chandy is a prominent Indian National Congress politician in Kerala. He is also a trade unionist and heads several INTUC affiliated outfits. Born in a middle-class family at Puthuppally, he finished schooling from St. George High School, Puthuppally, and graduated from CMS College and S B College, Changanassery. Later he took a bachelors degree in law (LLB) from Government Law College, Ernakulam.

[edit] Political life

He started his political career through the Kerala Students Union (KSU), which he served as president from 1967 to 1969. He was elected as the president of the State Youth Congress in 1970. He served as Minister for Labour from 11 April 1977 to 27 October 1978 in A.K. Antony ministry. When K. Karunakaran-led Congress ministry came in to power in 1981, Chandy became the Minister for Home from 28 December 1981 to 17 March 1982. He served as minister for labour and housing (1977-78), home minister (1981-82) and finance minister (1991-94).

He had been a very prominent figure among the Congress circles in Kerala, but his influence was proven when he resigned as the Finance Minister from the K. Karunakaran ministry in 1994, which ultimately led to the fall of the ministry. Since then, until the time of his taking over as Chief Minister in August 2004, he was seen as playing second fiddle to A.K. Antony within the Congress. He was the convener of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) from 2001 to 2004, when A.K. Antony was in power. With the latter resigning as the Chief Minister following the UDF rout in the Lok Sabha Elections in 2004, the reins were handed over to Chandy.

He has been representing Puthuppally Constituency for the last 36 years. Elected to Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1970, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006. He won Assembly elections held on April-May 2006, beating Sindhu Joy of CPI(M) by a margin of 19, 863 votes.

[edit] Chief Minister

On 30 August 2004, he was unanimously elected the Congress Legislature Party leader at the end of a meeting by AICC observers. His election was announced after it was officially cleared by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, subsequently was sworn in as the chief minister of Kerala on 1 September 2004, after the resignation of A K Antony.

He resigned as Chief Minister on May 12, 2006 following the defeat of his party in 2006 Assembly Elections. He was the first chief minister of Kerala who was known for his reformist approach on the economy.^[1]