Veteran Congress leader E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan dies in Sivaganga at 78

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan died at his residence in Sivaganga on Thursday after a brief illness. He was 78.

TNCC president Manickam Tagore, a nephew of the departed leader, said his uncle had passed away in his sleep. When he did not wake in the morning, his driver went to his room and found him dead, he said.

Natchiappan had been under medical care in Sivaganga over the preceding days as his health declined, and the treatment did not yield results.

He is survived by his wife, a daughter, two sons and two elder brothers.

A Congressman from 1969

Natchiappan joined the Congress in 1969 and steadily rose through its organisational ranks. He began as president of the Singampunari Regional Youth Congress and went on to become general secretary of the Youth Congress, before being elected chairman of the Sivaganga Panchayat Union in the 1986 local body polls. He was made vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee in 2002 and also served as the party whip in Parliament.

Born in Eriyur in Sivaganga district, he was active in the Students' Congress during his days at the Law College. He practised law in Sivaganga before shifting to the Madras High Court in 1991 and later to the Supreme Court in 1995.

A loyal Congressman and an admirer of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, he stayed with the party when G.K. Moopanar broke away in 1996 to launch the Tamil Maanila Congress in protest against the high command's decision to tie up with the AIADMK.

The 1999 upset and after

Natchiappan drew wide attention in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections by winning the Sivaganga seat against senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram, who was then with the TMC. After Chidambaram returned to the Congress, Natchiappan could not secure the constituency again. He was later nominated to the Rajya Sabha by Sonia Gandhi and represented the Upper House for two terms.

He was a Lok Sabha member from Sivaganga between 1999 and 2004, and a Rajya Sabha member from 2004 to 2016. He held the post of Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry for a short spell between 2013 and 2014, and chaired the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice from 2004 to 2009.

Known for his expertise on the Sri Lankan Tamil question, fishermen's rights and the Katchatheevu issue, he addressed the United Nations General Assembly on two occasions.