Senior CPI(M) leader in Kerala Kodiyeri Balakrishnan passes away

Chennai: CPI(M) Politburo member and former Kerala state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan passed away at Chennai Apollo Hospital around 8.45 pm on Saturday. He was 69. The leader was under treatment for cancer.

Kodiyeri represented Thalassery Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2016 and was the Minister in charge of the Home and Tourism Departments in Kerala from 2006 to 2011. On February 23, 2015, Kodiyeri was elected as the state secretary at the 21st state conference of the CPM held at Alappuzha. In 2018, he was re-elected as the secretary at the state conference held in Thrissur. He resigned as secretary on 28th August 2022 due to health reasons.

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was born on 16th November 1953 as the son of Kunjunnikurupp and Narayaniamma. His school education was from Junior Basic School at Kodiyeri, Kodiyeri Onion Govt. School. He did his pre-degree and undergraduate degrees from Mahi Mahatma Gandhi Govt. He graduated from Thiruvananthapuram University College.

Active in politics since his student days, Kodiyeri gradually rose to the highest positions in the party. He was elected as the State Secretary of SFI in 1973 and remained in that position till 1979. He served 16 months in jail during the Emergency. He has also held the post of the All India Joint Secretary of SFI. From 1980 to 1982, he held the charge of DYFI Kannur District President. In 1988, he was elected to the state committee of CPM. From 1990 to 1995, he worked as Kannur district secretary. In 1995, he was elected to the state secretariat in the state conference held in Kollam and in 2002, he was elected to the central committee in the party congress held in Hyderabad. He became a politburo member at the party congress held in Coimbatore in 2008.