During his five-decade-long tenure as an MLA, senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy has always remained a source of inspiration, whose statesmanship, wise counsel and experience were indeed a guide to the party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has said.
In a message read out on the occasion of the celebration marking 50 years of Mr. Chandy as a legislator here on Thursday, Ms. Gandhi described Mr. Chandy as the ‘most cherished member of the Congress party, a true patriot and a great son of Kerala.’
“Mr. Chandy has been a dynamic student leader, a visionary Chief Minister, an effective Leader of Opposition, a greatly valued general secretary of the AICC. During his tenure as an MLA, he has brought great distinctions, ability and integrity, never compromising on his principles and belief in secularism, social justice and democratic values.’’ said the message read out by the senior Congress leader K.C. Joseph.
Ms. Gandhi, who had been originally scheduled to inaugurate the event through video conferencing, could not join the event due to some medical emergencies.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said Mr. Chandy had always been an accessible leader of Kerala. “He is a true leader of the people of Kerala, because he feels the pain of the people. Apart from an accessible leader, he also listens to the people,” Mr. Gandhi said.
KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran presided over the event held at the Mamman Mappilai Hall. Further, 50 eminent personalities from the various spheres of life, including politics and cinema, were present. Senior Congress A.K. Antony, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, K.C. Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik also spoke on the occasion.
The event witnessed a huge turn out with people from all walks of life gathering at the venue, in defiance of the COVID-19 restrictions. According to the organisers, several lakhs of people witnessed the live streaming of the event.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Chandy offered prayers at the St. George Orthodox church at Puthupally and was felicitated at different locations across the Puthupally constituency.
