V.S. Achuthanandan, former Kerala chief minister, suffers heart attack

V.S. Achuthanandan, former Kerala chief minister and veteran Communist leader, was hospitalised around 10 a.m. on Monday after suffering a heart attack. He is 101 years old.

According to sources at SUT Hospital in Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram, Achuthanandan has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and his condition is stable.

Popularly known as 'VS', Achuthanandan is a towering figure in Kerala's political landscape. He served as the south Indian state’s chief minister from 2006 to 2011 and was Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly for 15 years.

Born in 1923 in Punappara, Alappuzha, into a family of agricultural workers, Achuthanandan joined the Communist movement early in life. In 1964, he became a founding member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) after splitting from the original CPI during a key ideological rift.

He played a significant role in the historic Punnapra-Vayalar uprising — often referred to as Kerala’s ‘October Revolution’ — which opposed the autocratic rule of the Travancore Diwan.