CPI stalwart Veliyam Bhargavan no more

: CPI stalwart Veliyam Bhargavan, a central player of Kerala's coalition politics for several decades, died here today.
Bhargavan (85), who led the party in the state for long, breathed his last in a hospital in the city where he was admitted with pneumonia, a CPI spokesperson said.
Known as "Asan" (teacher) among colleagues and friends, Bhargavan was keeping indifferent health for quite some time.
He is survived by his wife and a daughter.
Reputed as a shrewd tactician and pragmatist, he had an unsullied reputation in public life,endearing him to political friends and foes. An organisational man for much of his long career, he played a vital role in building and sustaining LDF after his party snapped ties with Congress in the late 1970s.

He was considered in Kerala's coalition politics as a tough negotiator when it came to asserting CPI'S positions and interests and often clashed with lead partner CPI(M).

However leaders of CPI(M) and other Left parties have acknowledged his contributions in shaping and sustaining Left unity in the state.
Born in a family of modest means at Velyiam village in Kollam district, Bhargavan was a dedicated student of Sanskrit and Indian thought during his school days. As an adolescent,he opted for a spiritual life and for a while even wandered about with a tonsured head as an aspiring sanyasi.
Later, he learnt basics of Marxism and Leninism, was attracted to Communism and joined as a party wholetimer in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore and was tasked with organising workers.

A skilled organiser and persuasive speaker with a deep sense of humour, he rose steadily in the organisational structure and was elected to the assembly in the 1957 polls, which voted undivided CPI to power, for the first time through ballot.
When CPI split in 1964, he remained with it and played a prominent role in building the party as a force to reckon resisting ideological and organisational challenges posed by CPI(M).
By 1971 he became a member of CPI's national council and had been part of the topmost national committees of the party since then.
He served as CPI state secretary from 1998 to 2010 before voluntarily stepping down from the post citing poor health.