MI Shanavas, a Member of Parliament representing Wayanad constituency in the Lok Sabha, and the working president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee of the Indian National Congress, is reportedly in critical condition after being admitted in a specialty hospital in Chennai to undergo a liver transplant. He was admitted in the hospital on Monday.

The 67-year-old Congress MP had survived cancer two years ago, but the cancer had recently spread to his liver, said Kerala Congress spokesperson PT Chacko. Speaking to TNM, PT Chacko said, “He has been admitted for a liver issue. He had a liver transplant two days ago.”

PT Chacko continued, “Senior leaders like Oommen Chandy went to visit him last night [Wednesday], and Mullappally Ramachandran also visited him. Other leaders from Malabar and other areas would also have visited him.” Local news reports indicate that political leaders KC Venugopal and Benny Behanan have also visited him in Chennai.

Educated at Farook College, Kozhikode and Law College, Ernakulam, the two-time Lok Sabha MP MI Shanavas had been involved in politics from a very young age. He was the President of the Calicut University Students Union, and a state office bearer of the Youth Congress till 1983. He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2009, and again in 2014. In 2009, he was also taken on as a member of the Committee on Commerce in the Lok Sabha.