Congress leader Satheeshan Pacheni passes away at 54

Congress leader Satheeshan Pacheni passed away at a Kannur hospital on Thursday, days after he suffered a stroke. He was 54.

Born into a Communist family in Taliparambu in Kannur district, Pacheni got attracted to the Congress after he heard a speech of A.K. Antony during the Emergency. Since then, he had been a die-hard fan of Antony.

He contested five Assembly elections and once to the Lok Sabha but could never win.

In 2001, he was pitted against CPI-M stalwart V.S. Achuthanandan at the Malampuzha Assembly constituency in Palakkad district, which was a pocket borough of the CPI-M and gave a shock to the veteran, but at the end he lost by a margin of 4,703 votes, while the average margin of victory in the previous elections was over 15,000 votes.

At the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, he lost to then sitting CPI-M candidate and present state LSG and Excise Minister M.B. Rajesh by a narrow margin of 1,820 votes.

Then again in 2016 Assembly polls at his home town Kannur, he lost to the Left candidate by a slender margin of 1,196 votes and against the same candidate at the 2021 polls again lost by 1,745 votes.

Condoling the death of his protege, Antony said no one will forget how committed Pacheni was to the party as when he was the Kannur district president of the party, he pledged his house to raise money to complete the new building of the party at Kannur.

Recalling him as a person with polite behaviour, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called his loss a big one.

Pacheni was seen exchanging pleasantries with all top party leaders at the state party headquarters on the 17th of this month when he came to cast his vote in the presidential polls.

On 19th night, he complained of uneasiness at his residence in Kannur and was rushed to a hospital. He was diagnosed with a stroke and all the top leaders rushed to meet him and shift him to a leading hospital, but by then his condition had deteriorated and he was put on a ventilator.

The last rites would be held in Kannur on Friday.