
Kerala ex-CM and veteran Communist leader VS Achuthanandan suffers cardiac arrest, admitted to hospital in Trivandrum
Former Kerala CM VS Achuthanandan was hospitalised on Monday, June 23 after suffering from a heart attack. The veteran Communist leader is 101-years-old, and was admitted at SUT Hospital at Pattom in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram.
VC Achuthanandan's has been admitted to the ICU and his condition is currently stable, as per multiple news reports.
Fondly known as VS, VS Achuthanandan served as Kerala's Chief Minister from 2006 to 2011 and held the position of Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly for 15 years straight.
In 1964, Achuthanandan left the Communist Party of India's (CPI) national council to become one of the founding members of the breakaway CPI(M), reported The Hindu.
According to Manorama Online, VS Achuthanandan has been away from active politics due to age-related ailments.
Hailed as Kerala's 'revolutionary sun' by his followers, VS Achuthanandan turned 101 last year October.
Born on October 20, 1923, into a worker's family in Punnapra, Alappuzha district, VS Achuthanandan studied up to Class VII before stepping into politics through trade union activism in the erstwhile Travancore.
Achuthanandan joined the State Congress in 1939 and became a member of the Communist Party in 1940. His commitment to the party came with significant hardships—he was jailed for over five years and spent nearly four and a half years living underground, as per PTI.

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