DMK labour wing leader Kuppusamy dies

CHENNAI: Former DMK North Chennai MP and the party’s labour wing leader C Kuppusamy, died in Chennai on Friday. He was 86 and is survived by his wife and two children. Family sources said he was ailing for a while and the end came while he was sleeping after dinner. The funeral will be held on Saturday evening.
Starting his career as a railway employee, Kuppusamy, a native of Tiruvannamalai, rose to become the leader of the Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), the DMK’s labour wing and was in the forefront of several labour issues for nearly five decades.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha from North Chennai for the first time in 1998 and was elected for two consecutive terms in 1999 and 2004 from the same constituency. Educated in Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Kuppusamy was an employee in the railways for nearly 24 years before he became an active DMK labour leader.
Kuppusamy participated in the railway and the all India government employees’ strikes in 1968 and 1969 and became the president of the LPF in 1977, a post which he held till his death. He was publisher of Uzhaippali, a trade union Tamil journal of the LPF. Kuppusamy was arrested during emergency under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).
DMK chief M Karunanidhi and party leaders condoled his death. Karunanidhi is expected to visit his house on Saturday. “Kuppusamy was responsible for making the LPF a recognised national trade union and was truly committed to the labour welfare,” DMK spokesman T K S Elangovan told TOI. Elangovan succeeded Kuppusamy as North Chennai MP.