Former MLA and senior leader of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), ‘Kaduvetti’ Guru, passed away at a private hospital in Chennai on Friday, after a prolonged illness.
As per sources, the 57-year-old Vanniyar Sangam chief had liver complications and respiratory problems and was undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospitals, Greams Road for the last few days.
Although he was responding well to treatment, he was declared dead by doctors at Apollo on Friday evening at 8.30pm.
Guru was born in Katuvetti in Ariyalur district and was the son of local CPI leader Jayaraman.
The movement led by PMK founder S Ramadoss demanding a separate reservation for the Vanniyars in the 1980s inspired him and he became actively involved.
Guru soon became one of the trusted men and was tasked with mobilising the Vanniyar community in favour of the party.
He was elected to the Assembly twice, first in 2001 in Andimadam and for a second time in 2011 from Jayamkondam.
During his second tenure, he was leader of the PMK legislature party. However, he lost lost in the Assembly elections in 2006 and 2016.
He had also made an unsuccessful bid from the Tiruvannamalai Lok Sabha constituency in 2009.
Guru was known for his inflammatory speeches and faced several cases. He was detained in 2008 under the National Security Act, for threatening the then Union Minister A Raja and DMK MLA Sivasankar, during a speech at a public meeting.
Five years later, he was arrested for making a hate speech and NSA invoked again against him.
He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.