Businessman politician

Thomas Chandy (Malayalam: തോമസ ചാണടി; 29 October 1947 – 20 December 2019) was an Indian businessman and politician. He was a member of the Kerala Legislative *embly from the Kuttanad cons*uency, the transport minister of the state of Kerala, and president of the Nationalist Congress Party in Kerala. He resigned from the minister's office on 15 November 2017 after an allegation regarding his resort in Alappuzha arose. He died in Kochi on 20 December 2019 after a battle with cancer.

Contents

• 1 Personal life
  • 1.1 Death
• 2 Political career
• 3 Business career
• 4 Allegations
• 5 Social activism
• 6 References

Personal life

Thomas Chandy was born on 29 October 1947, one of the sons of V. C. Thomas and Aleyamma Thomas at Chennamkary. He was educated at Devamatha High School in Chennamkary, St. Mary's HS Kainakary and at Leo XIII English Medium School in Alappuzha. He had a diploma in Telecommunication Engineering from the Ins*ute of Engineering Technology, Alleppey. He was married to Mercy Chandy.

Death

Chandy died from cancer on 20 December 2019, at age 72.

Political career

He started his political career in the KSU and was later selected as the President of the KSU and Youth Congress in Kuttanad, in 1970. After re-entering politics actively, he aligned himself with the DIC(K) of which he was the lone MLA as a part of the UDF in the 2006 elections, which later merged with the NCP and then aligned with the LDF for the 2011 elections. Based on the declaration of *ets filed at the time of the elections, he was the richest MLA in the *embly with *ets of over 920 million Indian rupees.

Business career

Chandy had interests in the fields of education and hospitality among others. He was the Chairman of the United Indian School, an Indian public school, and Indian Central School in Kuwait. He also ran Al-Alia International Indian School in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Chandy also owned a controlling interest in the Lake Palace Resort, located on the Punamada Lake in Kerala.

Allegations

A media report alleged that Chandy did not declare his true property value in the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission of India. He was accused of encroachment on Punnamada Lake at his resort in Alappuzha by keeping buoys afloat. It was later found by the District Collector that he had attained the necessary permissions from the government authorities in the state to keep the buoys afloat to keep waste away from the resort. It was also found that no one had complained about mobility rights within the buoy area over the years.

An allegation was raised against Chandy in October 2017 that he constructed a resort and a road to it illegally by filling in a water channel and paddy field in the ecologically fragile lower Kuttanad region. Initial reports from the district administration went against him and, as of August 2018, the probe was still going on.

Social activism

He was a social worker both in Kuwait and Kerala. In Kuwait, he was involved with a waste disposal and cleanup campaign in a suburb mainly inhabited by expatriates from Kerala. He also intervened in the case of Indian nurses who were duped in a job racket which promised them jobs in government hospitals in Kuwait.

Chandy was the chairman of the Daveedputhra Charitable Society, which has been involved in building houses and providing sanitation facilities, health care and educational *istance, and other services.

References

Leaders

• E. M. S. Namboodiripad
• E. K. Nayanar
• V. S. Achuthanandan
• Pinarayi Vijayan
• Kodiyeri Balakrishnan
• Prakash Karat
• S. Ramachandran Pillai
• M. B. Rajesh
• C. Achutha Menon
• Pannyan Raveendran
• Kanam Rajendran
• K. E. Ismail
• A. K. Saseendran
• Thomas Chandy
• K. Krishnankutty
• Mathew T. Thomas
• R. Balakrishna Pillai
• Kadannappalli Ramachandran
• P. T. A. Rahim
• M. P. Veerendra *ar
• K. R. Gowri Amma
• Skaria Thomas
• Francis George