Oommen Chandy's Political Life
Oomen Chandy is the current leader of UDF and the opposiiton leader in the Kerala state assembly. He is known as the leader of common people and is always available to solve their problems.
Oommen Chandy
Oommen Chandy is one of the best and experienced politicians in Kerala. He is a simple man and is known as the leader of common people. Anybody can approach him at any time with any complaints and suggestions and he is always available with a feasible solution to their problems. He is associated with many trade unions and has made many mass movements for the developments and to resolve the difficulties of common working people. He is always seen in the middle of the mass, almost with common people. He might be the only leader in Kerala who may be having personal contacts with maximum number of people. He is always ready to sacrifice his positions for others. The 2001 ministry formation is a best example showing his commitment to his party. His Political Life
Oommen Chandy's leadership started as the president of All Kerala Balajana Sakyam in 1961. He made his footstep to political life as a member of Kerala Students Union (KSU) at Puthupally St. George High School and later in 1967 he was elected as the state president of KSU for a period of 2 years. This position made his entry into the Kerala politics and later as a party member of AICC
In 1970 he was appointed as a candidate of INC for the Kerala state legislative assembly election in Puthupally constituency in Kottayam district. He made his entry into the assembly in that election itself by defeating E M George of CPM by a margin of 7288 votes. This was a great defeat for E M George since he had tasted victory in 1965 and 1967 election to state assembly from the same constituency. So his footstep to the Kerala politics was very impressive. After this he was again selected from the same constituency in 1977, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006. That means he never tasted defeat in assembly election. This shows the faith his people had kept on him. Now he has completed his 40 years as legislator in Kerala Assembly.
In 1977 he made his second entry to assembly by defeating his opponent P C Cherian (BLD) by a margin of 15910 votes. This time he was given the charge as Minister for Labour under Karunakaran led Congress Ministry and remained in his seat from April 1977 till March 1980. His presence in the assembly as a Minister was very successful. His decision to grant unemployment allowance to the millions of educated unemployed of the state was truly historic. In 1980 Assembly election, he made his third entry into the assembly by defeating his main opponent Panicker MR G (NDP) by 113659 votes. This time he was given the charge as Home Minister. This time he made his presence by conducting a lot of training programs for Kerala police and gave a new look to their uniform. In the next assembly election in 1982, he made his fourth entry to the State assembly by defeating his main opponent Thomas Rajan of by 15983 votes. He made his fifth entry in the next State assembly election held in 1987 by defeating his CPM opponent Vasan V N by 9164 votes. In the next assembly election in 1991, he made his sixth entry into the assembly again defeating his previous assembly election opponent V N Vasan. But this time he won by a huge margin of 13811 votes and he was given the charge as Finance Minister. The decisions he made as a Finance Minister were very accurate and according to the circumstances. His maverick ideas helped to set the state economy back on track. In 1991 he was also appointed as the Convener of UDF. In 1995 he completed his 25 successful years Kerala politics. In 1996 assembly he was again selected from his constituency and made his seventh footstep to the State assembly as a MLA by defeating Regi Zacharia of CPM by a margin of 10155 votes. In 2001 he made his eighth entry into the assembly by defeating an independent candidate Cherian Philip who was supported by CPM by a margin of 12575 votes. On 1st September 2004, he was elected as the Chief Minister of Kerala state by AICC after the resignation of Mr A K Antony from the Chief Minister of the state. He was the 19th chief Minister of Kerala. This 2 year (2004 to 2006) brought a lot of new projects and job opportunities to Kerala. The main project among those is the Vizhinjam port which is going to be one of the largest container terminals in India. This project will allow bigger ships to come to the port which in turn helps in international business and also provides a lot of job opportunities. The other main projects include Vallarpadan Transshipment Terminal, Smart city, Metro Rail in Kochi, Capital City Development, Kannur International Airport etc….. In 2006, CPM gave the ticket to SFI state president Sindhu Joy to fight against Oomen Chandy as she was injured by an exploding shell fired by the police while leading a student demonstrates against Oomen Chandy government. But all CPM planning again went in vain as Oomen Chandy made his ninth footstep to Kerala assembly by defeating Sindhu joy by 19863 votes, his ever highest margin in State assembly election.
Oommen Chandy resigned from the Chief Minister chair on 19th May 2005 after LDF overtook UDF in 2006 State legislative assembly election. This time he is given the charge as opposition leader. Even as an opposition leader, he always welcomed all the developments and projects brought up by LDF government. But he also acted against the activities of LDF government that appeared harmful to the interests of the common people of Kerala. Overall Oommen Chandy is known as the leader for common people. He has made an official website for people to post complaints, suggestions and petitions. As a leader, he never treated people on the basis of party. Now he has completed his 40 years as legislator in Kerala Assembly.
Official website to register complaints is:
www.oommenchandy.net
Job oriented