Kozhikode: Former Kerala minister and Congress leader P Sankaran passed away here late on Tuesday night.

Sankaran, 72, was undergoing treatment for cancer. The end came at 11:07 pm at a private hospital.

The cremation will be held at his Perambra residence in Kozhikode district at 10am on Thursday.

Sankaran, a confidant of former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran, was elected from Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency in 1998.

After he won the assembly elections from Koilandy in 2001, he was the Health and Tourism minister in the A K Antony cabinet.

Sankaran has also served as the Kozhikode District Congress Committee (DCC) president.

He is the incumbent district chairman of the United Democratic Front and the president of the Co-operative Insurance Society (Congress).

Sankaran, who has served as the KPCC general secretary, Youth Congress district president and Calicut University Syndicate member, parted ways with the Congress when K Karunakaran floated the Democratic Indira Congress, but later returned to the Congress fold with his mentor.

Born on December 2, 1947 as the son of freedom fighter Puthiyottil Kelu Nair and Makkam Amma, his political stint began during his Pre-Degree days at Mattanoor Pazhassi Raja NSS College as the unit secretary of the Kerala Students Union (KSU).

Sankaran became the Taluk President of the KSU while he was studying at the Tavanoor Rural Research Institute.

Sankaran, who was elected Thrissur Kerala Varma college Union Chairman, took his law degree from Kozhikode Government Law college in 1973.

Two years later, he became the first student representative in Calicut University Syndicate.

He began his stint as a lawyer from Perambra Court and was appointed Youth Congress district president in 1978. He served as DCC general secretary from 1980 to 1991, when he was elevated as DCC president.

In 1998, he defeated M P Veerendra Kumar from Kozhikode LS seat to become a lawmaker, but after the Lok Sabha was dissolved, he relinquished the seat for K Muraleedharan in 1999.

His 2001 assembly entry was by defeating sitting MLA P Viswan from Koilandy seat.

Sankaran is survived by his wife V Sudha (Retd. Principal, Govt Arts and Science College, Kozhikode) and children Indu, Priya (both in the US) and Rajiv (Dubai).