THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : V P Ramakrishna Pillai, Ex-minister and founding member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), passed away at a private nursing home hear on last evening after old age illness. Pillai, 85, leaves behind wife V Bhanumati and 5 children.
Pillai’s body will be brought to Kollam today and will be cremated at his ancestral house at Ashtamudi.
V P Ramakrishna Pillai, known as VPR among party cadres, had played a significant role in growth of RSP. A man brimmed with rustic embers; Ramakrishna Pillai was different from other politicians of his generation. The demise of the leader has left a huge vacuum in the party which is already struggling to keep alive in the political sphere of the state after facing a humiliating defeat in the last legislative election.
He was born as the son of Parameswaran Pillai on 12 November 1931 at Edavazhayil at Thevally in Kollam. He was active in student politics then, and it was through the Kerala Socialist Party that he entered active politics. Pillai later joined RSP under R Sreekantan Nair and T K Divakaran. He also has served as a member of the national committee and Kerala state secretariat of the RSP.