KOCHI: Former MLA and CPI Ernakulam district secretary P Raju passed away in Kochi on Thursday. He was 73. Raju breathed his last while undergoing treatment at Renai Medicity, Kochi, due to illness.

Born in July 1951, he represented the Paravur assembly in the Kerala legislative assembly for two terms—from 1991 to 1996 and from 1996 to 2001. In the 1996 election, he defeated the current Leader of the Opposition, V D Satheesan of the Congress.

Raju also served as AIYF Ernakulam district secretary, member of the CPI State Council, state general secretary of the Fishermen’s Federation, and the manager of CPI’s mouthpiece, Janayugam newspaper‘s Kochi unit.

Raju was the son of freedom fighter and former MLA Sivan Pillai and Chellamma.