Kannur: The mortal remains of Congress leader Satheesan Pacheni was cremated at Payyambalam on Friday.

Leaders and activists of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) thronged the ceremony to bid adieu to one of the party's staunch leaders.

Among them were KPCC president K Sudhakaran and former Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.

Pachni passed away on Thursday days after suffering a brain haemorrhage due to stroke. He was 54.

He is survived by his wife K V Reena, an employee with the Talimparambu Urban Co-operative Bank, and children, Jawahar and Saniya.

Big loss for Congress

With Pacheni's demise, Congress lost a powerful leader who always stood for value-based politics.

Though he didn’t get many opportunities to represent the parliament, he raised no complaints while playing a strong and active role in the party.

Pacheni became a known political figure after he undertook several foot marches in the Kannur district and outside it as part of party activities and to highlight many social issues.

He was popular among the party's lower cadres, as he always spoke for them, no matter whether he was holding a key position or not.

The leader who sold his house for party

Sudhakaran announced on Friday that the Congress party will build a house for Satheesan's family.

This was perhaps the party's way of thanking the late leader for putting the party ahead of his own family way back in 2018.

In 2018, when the Congress was taunted by the media and those in the opposition camp for how the construction work of the party office was dragging on for years, Pacheni, then the Congress district president, sold his house to pay the contractor and complete the work. He had bought the house only four years prior.

The move was widely lauded by the Congress workers, not only in Kannur but across the state.