Kottayam: Former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy may settle in Puthuppally, his hometown in Kottayam district which has become synonymous with him over the past five decades.
Chandy, who has a ‘Puthuppally House’ in Thiruvananthapuram, is considering constructing a house on his share of ancestral property in his home town. The one-acre property is located at Puthuppally Junction, a bit away from his ancestral house, ‘Karottu Vallakkalil.’
The 77-year-old Congress leader’s plan is to avail a loan from the MLAs’ housing fund to construct a residence, which will also have an MLA’s office next to it. Chandy does not have an MLA’s office in Puthuppally.
“I have plans to construct a house at Puthupally,” Chandy, the most popular name in the town, said. Letters addressed to “Oommen Chandy, Puthupally (P.O.), invariably find its way to the intended person.
The leader’s younger brother Alex Chandy is the current resident of the ancestral ‘Karottu Vallakkalil’ House. His sister Valsa lives in the adjacent house. Oommen Chandy shifted to Thiruvananthapuram after becoming an MLA.
For decades, Chandy has made it a practice to meet his party workers and voters at the ancestral house at Puthuppally every Sunday morning.
In the recent assembly eletions, Chandy was elected from Puthuppally for the 12th consecutive time. However, this time his winning margin came down to 9,000-odd votes from the 27,092 votes in 2016. Young CPM leader Jaick C Thomas was his opponent both the times.
