Veteran RSP leader Ramakrishna Pillai dead

KOLLAM/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : V P Ramakrishna Pillai, former minister and founding member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), died at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday evening after prolonged illness. Pillai, 85, leaves behind wife V Bhanumati and five children.
Pillai's body will be brought to Kollam on Wednesday afternoon and will be cremated at his ancestral house at Ashtamudi.

V P Ramakrishna Pillai, known as VPR among party cadres, had played a significant role in growth of RSP. A man brimmed with rustic embers; Ramakrishna Pillai was different from other politicians of his generation. The demise of the leader has left a huge vacuum in the party which is already struggling to keep alive in the political sphere of the state after facing a humiliating defeat in the last legislative election.

He was born as the son of Parameswaran Pillai on 12 November 1931 at Edavazhayil at Thevally in Kollam. He was active in student politics then, and it was through the

Kerala Socialist Party

that he entered active politics. Pillai later joined RSP under R Sreekantan Nair and T K Divakaran. He also has served as a member of the national committee and Kerala state secretariat of the RSP. He was also the editor of the party fortnightly Pravaham. Pillai had served as the

Kollam district secretary

of the party for more than 30 years before becoming the state secretary in 2008. He was elected to the Kerala assembly in 1987. The success was a stupendous one then with Pillai scoring 49% of the total votes polled. He was defeated in 1991, but, regained the Eravipuram seat in 1996.

He became a minister in the E K Nayanar cabinet after Baby John fell ill. He served as minister of irrigation and labour from January 7, 1998 to May 13, 2001. In the election that followed in 2001, Pillai competed against RSP(B) leader Shibu Baby John and was defeated.

In January , 2008, Pillai fought a tough battle to defeat T J Chandrachoodan and become the state secretary of RSP. He had been ailing for the past few months. Condoling the demise of VPR, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Pillai was a leader who had worked hard for the unity of left parties. “He had always believed that RSP's place was not among the rightists,“ Vijayan said in a condolence message. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said Pillai had made his mark as a trade union leader, legislator and administrator.