He had represented the Pala Assembly constituency for 52 years on the trot since its formation in 1965.

Kerala Congress (M) chairman K. M. Mani, the longest serving legislator in the State’s history, is no more. The 86-year-old leader passed away on Tuesday in a private hospital.

Mr. Mani was admitted to the hospital on Friday with respiratory problem connected to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The hospital authorities said his condition improved in the morning from the day before, but by afternoon it worsened. He had been treated in hospital for the same problem earlier

Fondly called ‘Mani Saar’ by the masses and the State’s political class alike, the lean, heavy-browed politician had represented the Pala Assembly constituency for 52 years on the trot since its formation in 1965. Till now, he has won all the 13 elections from the constituency. He had held the Finance portfolio for the longest period and presented 13 budgets.

Interestingly, his 13th budget was presented amidst bedlam in the Assembly on March 13, 2015. Thirteen, he once said, was his lucky number.

The foremost in a legion of politicians from the Central Travancore with backings by the church, Mr. Mani carved a productive niche by championing the cause of the farmers in the rubber heartland.

Humble beginnings

Born into a lower middle-class family in Marangattupilly, Mr. Mani began his career as a lawyer. Riding on an initial leg-up by political giant P.T. Chacko, his wife Kuttiyamma’s cousin, he rose swiftly through the ranks of the Congress and held the secretary post of the Kottayam District Congress Committee from 1960 to 1965.

The Assembly elections in 1965 marked the watershed in Mani’s political life. Having failed to secure a nomination from the Congress, he was roped in by the Kerala Congress, which was formed a year ago and was on a growth path, as a candidate of the newly constituted Pala constituency.

That election, Mr. Mani trounced V.T. Thomas, a Left independent, by a margin of 9,585 votes.

He eventually went on become the driving force of the Kerala Congress’s ascent in the State’s political landscape and was sworn in as the Finance Minister for the first time in December 1975.

Tenacious politician

A powerful and tenacious politician, Mr. Mani survived as many as 21 splits within the Kerala Congress to lord over the Christian heartland since the formation of the Kerala Congress (M) in 1979. The same year, he also got close to the Chief Minister’s chair after C.H. Muhammad Koya’s exit, but for a last minute decision by Governor Jothi Venkatachalam to dissolve the Assembly.

In his long political career, the KC(M) patriarch faced no major blemishes barring the bar bribery scam in 2015, which forced him out of the Cabinet. A year later, he also quit the Congress-led UDF camp, but returned after a two-year hiatus.

The portfolios held by Mr. Mani in the cabinet during different periods are as follows: Minister for Finance and Law (1975-77); Home Affairs and Ports (April 1977 to December 1977 and September 1978 to July 1979); Finance and Law (January 1980 to October 1981); Finance, Law and Transport (December 1981 to March 1982); Finance and Law (May 1982 to March 1986); Irrigation and Law and Urban Affairs (June 1986 to March 1987); Revenue and Law (June 1991 to May 1996 and May 2001 to May 2006); Finance, Law and Housing ( May 2011 to November 2015).

In 2014-15, he served as the Chairman of the Council of State Finance Ministers for the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax.

Mr. Mani is survived by wife Kuttiyamma and three daughters — Sali Mani, Smitha Mani, Annie Mani. His son, Jose K. Mani, is an MP with the Rajyasabha.