Congress leader and former Mavelikkara MLA M Murali passes away

Thiruvananthapuram: Former Mavelikkara MLA and senior Congress leader M Murali (73) passed away on Thursday. He died at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. Murali represented the Mavelikkara Assembly constituency for four consecutive terms from 1991. He was known in the Assembly for moving the highest number of private members’ bills, frequently seeking permission to introduce legislative proposals.

Murali began his political career in the Kerala Students Union (KSU), serving as Alappuzha district general secretary and president between 1972 and 1977. He became KSU state vice-president in 1978, general secretary in 1979 and state president in 1980. He was first elected to the Assembly from Mavelikkara in 1991, defeating CPM leader S Govindakutty Kurup, and continued as MLA till 2011. He later contested from Kayamkulam in 2011 but was defeated.

He was the first Senate member of Mahatma Gandhi University and also served as a member of the consultative committee of the Kerala State Electricity Board. Murali held positions as a director of the Kerala State Financial Enterprises and as a member of the Kerala State Youth Welfare Board.

Murali had introduced several notable private members’ bills, including the proposal to establish Malayalam University. In 2001, he presented a bill seeking the creation of a Kerala Administrative Service on the lines of the Indian Administrative Service. He also introduced bills seeking pension benefits for elected representatives of local self-government institutions and the establishment of an Old Age Commission on the lines of the Women’s Commission.