Senior Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and former Kerala Minister E. Chandrasekharan Nair passed away on Wednesday. He was 88.
According to the party, he was suffering from age-related illness and breathed his last at a hospital here. He was to have turned 89 on Saturday.
A lawyer by profession, Nair is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.
Nair, one of Kerala's gentleman politicians, was the architect of streamlining the Public Distribution System by launching Maveli stores (fair price shops).
He was a member of the first Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1957 and after that he was elected five more times.
After 2001, he retired from active politics.
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He was state Minister on three different occasions and handled the Food and Civil Supplies and Tourism portfolio.
The last rites would be held here on Friday.
--IANS
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