Congress leaders and workers on Saturday remembered former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy as a leader of the people and as the prime mover behind major initiatives such as the Vizhinjam international seaport.

Paying his tributes to Chandy in a Facebook post, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan said the former Chief Minister taught that it was the duty of every public activist to hold close the common people. Mr. Satheesan added that he was trying to model himself on Chandy as he now occupies the Chief Minister’s chair.

At a function organised at the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram to mark Chandy’s death anniversary, Electricity Minister and KPCC president Sunny Joseph said no other political organisation can claim to have had a leader like Chandy, who travelled the length and breadth of the State and communicated with the people. For him, ‘Janasambarkam’ was not just an official mass connect programme, but part of his daily life, Mr. Joseph said.

Former KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran said that it was Chandy who transformed the Kerala Students’ Union (KSU) into a great organisation that won widespread recognition.

Shashi Tharoor, MP, said Chandy would have completed several mega projects, including the Vizhinjam seaport, had the UDF won continuity in government.

Ministers P.C. Vishnunadh and M. Liju, UDF convenor Adoor Prakash, Congress working president Shafi Parambil, KSU president Aloshious Xavier, writer George Onakkoor and historian M.G. Sasibhooshan were among those present.