Vakkom Purushothaman

Vakkom Purushothaman Biography

Vakkom Purushothaman is a prominent politician from Vakkom, Kerala who served as the governor of Mizoram from 2011 to 2014. A senior leader of Congress, he has been a member of All India Congress Committee for over 25 years. He has been elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1970, 1977, 1980 and 1982 from Attingal Constituency and served as the cabinet minister several times. He has been a two-time Lok Sabha member too. He served as the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1993-1996).

In 2014 the veteran leader of 86 years resigned from his post as the governor of Mizoram as he was transferred to Nagaland by President of India, Pranab Mukherjee without asking his consent. It was soon after the Lok Sabha elections when Narendra Modi became the prime minister and a lot of resignations and reshuffling occurred across the country in ‘Governor’ posts. He quoted the decision being ‘Unfair’ in his resignation letter. He decided to serve as an active member of Congress after that.   

Vakkom B. Purushothaman was born in Vakkom, Thiruvananthapuram on 12 April 1928. He got active with Students' Congress in 1946 and became a Panchayat member in 1953. Got elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1970, he was consecutively elected for the terms - 1977, 1980 and 1982. He served as Minister of Agriculture and Labour in the cabinet of C. Achutha Menon during 1971-1977. He served as the Minister for Health and Tourism in the Nayanar Ministry (1980-1981). He later served as Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 1982 to 1984.

His entry to national level politics happened in the year 1984, followed by 1991 when he was elected as a Parliamentarian twice. After a lot set of wins, he faced loss in the Kerala Legislative Assembly election at his favourite constituency Attingal in 1996. But he got re-elected for the next time in 2001, where he served as the Speaker for the second term. In 2004 he briefly served as Minister for Finance and Excise in the Oommen Chandy.

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Updated: March 12, 2016