A. Charles, senior Congress leader and the only person to win thrice from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency, died Sunday morning at a private hospital.
He was 84 and was suffering from age related health issues for a while.
Hailing from the powerful Nadar community in the capital district, Charles with no political background was handpicked by K. Karunakaran to contest the 1984 Lok Sabha polls.
He controlled the affairs of the Congress party in the state in the '80s and '90s.
Charles worked at the state Public Service Commission here and later became its member. After that, he entered full-time politics to contest the 1984 polls.
Charles then won the 1989 and the 1991 polls, but in the 1996 elections, he lost and since then was keeping a low profile in Congress politics.
The funeral will take place here Monday.
