V. S. Achuthanandan
Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan (born 20 October 1923) is an Indian politician who was the Chief Minister of Kerala from 2006 to 2011. He served as the chairman of Administrative reforms in Kerala with state cabinet rank from 2016 to 2021. He was also a former 3 times Leader of the Opposition of Kerala state. Achuthanandan was a member of the CPI(M) Politburo from 1985 until July 2009, when he was reverted to the Central Committee of the party owing to his ideological dispositions. Achuthanandan initiated various actions as the Chief Minister, including: the demolition drive in Munnar  which claimed back acres of illegally occupied land, the demolition drive in Kochi M. G. Road which claimed back the long lost "shoulder" of the road, anti-piracy drive against film-piracy, his struggle against the Lottery mafia in the state. He was instrumental in convicting former minister R. Balakrishna Pillai on charges of corruption. Achuthanandan also took the lead in promoting free software in the state, and especially in adopting free software in the public education system of the state. Early life. Born on 20 October 1923 to Sankaran and Accamma in Punnapra, Alappuzha, Travancore (part of present-day  Kerala state, India), he lost his mother when he was four years old and subsequently lost his father at age 11. This forced him to quit his studies after finishing 7th standard in school and college He started working by helping his elder brother in a village tailoring shop. Later he took up the job of meshing coir to make ropes at a coir factory. V.S Achuthanandan was in the forefront of the land struggles in Kerala starting with the Alappuzha declaration in 1970 demanding implementation of the Land Reforms Act passed by the EMS Government in 1967. Later his  activities as the leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly had evoked good public response. Political life. He entered politics through trade union activities and joined State Congress in 1938. In 1940 he became a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI). During his 40 years as a politician he was imprisoned for five years and six months and was in hiding for four and half years. He was a state secretariat member of the CPI in 1957. He is the only living Keralite among the 32 members who left the CPI National Council in 1964 to form  the CPI(M). He was the Secretary of the Kerala State Committee between 1980 and 1992. He was a member of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau since 1985 until he was removed as a party disciplinary action. He is the senior most leader of CPI(M) in India. Chief Ministership. During the assembly elections held in Kerala in April–May 2006, VS Achuthanandan defeated Satheesan Pacheeni of the United Democratic Front by a margin of 20,017 votes in Malampuzha constituency in Palakkad district. He was sworn in as Chief Minister of Kerala on 18 May 2006, with his 21-member cabinet. Aged 82  years and 7 months at time, he was the oldest Chief Minister of Kerala, and one of the oldest in the whole India. It is noticeable that he had been denied a party ticket to contest elections just two months before he sworn in. He became the 11th Chief Minister of Kerala. On 12 July 2009, the CPI(M) Polit bureau and Central Committee removed him from the PB for his stands taken in relation to the accusation and legal procedures against Pinarayi Vijayan in his reported involvement in the Lavlin bribery. 2011 Assembly election. The CPI(M) denied a seat to  Achuthanandan for the 2011 assembly election. Protests took place across the state and even on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and via SMS. In what can be considered as a near repeat of the 2006 pre-election build-up, the Politbureau of CPI-M impressed upon the state leadership to permit VS Achuthanandan to contest elections for the April 2011 Assembly election in Kerala. VS Achuthanandan contested from the Malampuzha Constituency and won with a margin of around 25,000 votes. It was the VS factor that had created history in the 2011 elections with the Opposition front UDF  winning the elections on the margin of 72-68 assembly seats. This is considered as loss for UDF as they were ahead in 100 constituencies during the 2009 Lok Sabha Election. After this election VS has been considered the man behind the Uprising of LDF after the 2009 Parliament and 2010 Municipal election loses. Removal of personal staff. On 12 May 2013, three of his personal staffs V.K. Sasidharan (additional private secretary), A. Suresh (personal assistant) and K. Balakrishnan (press secretary) were ousted by the Politburo, which was entrusted by the CPI(M) central committee to decide on the action to  be taken against them. They were expelled on charges of leaking information to media, according to CPI(M). With the decision, Achuthanandan's arch-rival and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI(M)) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan appears to have won. The state committee of the party where Vijayan has a huge majority also wanted Achuthanandan to be removed from the post of leader of opposition but this was not done. "This is a clipping of the wings of Achuthanandan", said K.M. Shahjahan. 2016 Assembly elections. Achuthanandan was appointed as Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission on 3 August 2016. Major achievements . The drive to reclaim paddy land. The anti-reclamation stir launched by the Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union (KSKTU) at Mankompu in 1996–97, under the leadership of Achuthanandan created much controversy. This stir was claimed to be highlighting the serious problem of the massive conversion of paddy fields into other type of land, affecting the food security of the Kerala. But this soon developed into a crop destruction drive. The protest got the sobriquet following the violent methods and crop destruction resorted to by the KSKTU cadre. The stir attracted lot of public attention and Achuthanandan was forced to express  his disapproval of any destruction of crops. 15 Years later, in November 2011, a UDF Minister, who is politically opposed to Achuthanadan, justified this struggle. JanataDal Socialist leader and minister for Agriculture, K.P. Mohananan said such a struggle was necessary as conversion of paddy fields to other type of crops is a serious concern.