Vakkom Purushothaman

Vakkom B. Purushothaman, a veteran Congress leader and advocate, was born at Vakkom near Trivandrum, the capital of Travancore, on 12 April 1928 as the eldest son of Bhanu Panicker and Bhavani.

Beginning his political life as an active worker of the Students' Congress in 1946, he became a member of Vakkom Panchayat in 1953. Later, he served as President of the District Congress Committee, Thiruvananthapuram and the General Secretary and Vice–President of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee. He has been a member of All India Congress Committee for over 25 years.[2]

Vakkom Purushothaman was elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1970, 1977, 1980 and 1982 from Attingal Constituency. From 1971 to 1977, he held the portfolio of Agriculture and Labour in the Ministry headed by C. Achutha Menon. From 1980 to 1981, he was the Minister for Health and Tourism in the Nayanar Ministry.[3] He served as Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 1982 to 1984 and then served for two terms as a Member of parliament, Lok Sabha, 1984-1991, during which time he was also Chairman of the Committee on Public Undertakings and the Committee on Subordinate Legislation of Parliament. He was the Chairman of the Consultative Committee of Experts to the Inter Parliamentary Union for five years.[4][5]

In 1993-1996, he served as the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In 1996, he lost in the Kerala Legislative Assembly election Attingal. He was elected from Attingal in 2001 and became the Speaker for a second time, holding office from 2001 to 2004. In 2004 he was made the Minister for Finance and Excise in the Oommen Chandy led UDF government and he briefly officiated as Chief Minister in 2006.[6]

Vakkom Purushothaman married his childhood sweetheart Lilly Purushothaman, and they have two sons and one daughter(Dr.Bindhu purushothaman).[2] His elder son Biju died on 18 January 2012 after prolonged illness. Biju's death devastated him very much, but he never went to extreme grief.