KP Unnikrishnan, former Union Minister and senior Congress leader, passed away

Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader KP Unnikrishnan. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

Former Union minister and senior Congress leader KP Unnikrishnan, a lifelong socialist and a key figure in national politics in the 1980s and 1990s, who played a vital role in the massive evacuation of Indians during the Gulf War, died at a city hospital in the early hours of Tuesday.

He was 89. Mr. Unnikrishnan had been unwell for some time. He is survived by his wife Amrita and two daughters. Closing ceremonies will be held on Wednesday.

Mr. Unnikrishnan has the rare distinction of representing the Lok Sabha constituency for the longest period in the political history of Kerala. He was the Member of Parliament for Vadakar in Kozhikode from 1971 to 1996, that too as a candidate of three political parties.

His entry into the upper house of Parliament in 1971 on a Congress ticket also had its share of drama. He then worked as a journalist for Mathrubhumi in New Delhi and was unknown to most of the local Congress leaders. Moreover, local party leaders have already started campaigning for Leela Damodar Menon, wife of Congress stalwart KA Damodar Menon from Vadakara. Although a section of party leaders avoided election work in protest, Mr. Unnikrishnan managed to jump home. He continued his winning streak in the elections of 1977, 1980, 1984, 1989 and 1991.

However, the victories were significant for many reasons. In the first two elections, he was part of the Congress faction led by Indira Gandhi. After breaking away from the party in 1978, Mr. Unnikrishnan ran as a Congress (U) and then Congress (S) candidate.

In the 1984 polls, he was among the three Left Democratic Front candidates who withstood the pro-Rajiv Gandhi wave in Kerala. When the Bofors scandal rocked the nation, his interventions against the Congress government in Parliament were widely discussed.

Mr. Unnikrishnan also served as the Union Minister for Telecommunications, Shipping and Surface Transport in Vice President Singh’s cabinet from 1989 to 1990. During this time, he led the evacuation of over 1.5 million Indians, mostly Keralites, from Kuwait during the Gulf War. Although not recommended by the cabinet, he went to the hideout of then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and successfully negotiated their return.

The 1991 elections were also pivotal, when he successfully defeated lawyer M. Ratna Singh, who was fielded by the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the BJP, a political experiment that later became known as the “Cong-League-BJP” or Co-Le-B alliance. Although Mr. Unnikrishnan returned to the Congress in 1994, he could not win another term in the 1996 polls as he was defeated by O. Bharathan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Mr. Unnikrishnan was born on September 20, 1936 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. His father’s family hailed from Koyilanda in Kozhikode. He was attracted to politics quite early as most of his family members were part of the freedom movement. Mr. Unnikrishnan was part of the socialist student movement during his days at Madras Christian College and Presidency College, Madras.

He joined the Congress in the 1960s and became a member of the All India Congress Committee. Mr. Unnikrishan also worked for a while at Blitz newspaper in Mumbai during this period. He was a staunch supporter of Indira Gandhi in her early years in power. However, Mr. Unnikrishnan broke up with her after the Emergency and after differences of opinion with Sanjay Gandhi.

Published – March 3, 2026 09:15 IST