Political leaders condole death of TM Jacob

Monday, October 31, 2011: Several political leaders including the ruling and the opposition have condoled the death of Minister TM Jacob, who is hailed as one of the best parliamentarians Kerala has ever produced.

Assembly Speaker G Karthikeyan expressed grief over the death. In a message, Karthikeyan said in the passing away of Jacob, Kerala has lost an effective legislator and a very good administrator who had proved his ability over the years.

Expressing grief at his demise, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said, “This is quite unexpected and a big blow to the government and the UDF coalition as a whole.”

Jacob was active in Kerala politics for more than three decades and had handled education and irrigation portfolios in the previous UDF governments headed by K Karunakaran and A K Antony.

Widely recognised as an able administrator and skilled legislator, he entered politics as an activist of the Kerala Congress” student wing in the 1960s. He served as the general secretary of the Kerala Congress Students (KSC) wing and later became president of the youth wing.
He was first elected in 1977 from Piravom constituency, and was re-elected from the same constituency in 2011 assembly elections.

Jacob, who won the 2011 election from his home constituency Piravom with a slender margin of 157 votes, was the lone representative of his party Kerala Congress (Jacob) in the Assembly.

Born on September 16, 1950, as the son of T S Mathew and Annamma, Jacob entered politics during his student days.

In 1971, he was elected the general secretary of Kerala Students Congress. He was the president of KSC from 1972 to 75. He was first elected to the Assembly from Piravom in 1977 and had remained a member till 2006, representing Piravom and Kothamangalam.