Chennai, Sept 17:
Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan passed away due to health complications at his residence in Sivaganga, according to information received on Thursday. He was 78.
A native of Eriyur in Sivaganga district, Natchiappan was a lawyer by profession and practised in the Supreme Court. He pursued higher studies in law and obtained a PhD from Madurai Kamaraj University. He entered politics through the Congress in 1969 and went on to hold several positions in the party’s youth and organisational wings.
He served as the Student Congress president at the Chennai Law College and subsequently held positions including Singampunari Youth Congress president, Ramanathapuram district office-bearer and Tamil Nadu Youth Congress general secretary. He later served as Sivaganga district Congress leader and was the party’s Sivaganga constituency organiser.
Natchiappan was elected to the Lok Sabha from Sivaganga in 1999, defeating the then sitting MP P. Chidambaram. He later served as a Rajya Sabha member from Tamil Nadu from June 2004 to June 2016. During his parliamentary career, he served on several important committees and chaired the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice.
He was appointed Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry in the second Manmohan Singh government in June 2013 and served in the post until May 2014. He was also associated with parliamentary forums on human rights and served as a member of various committees dealing with finance, commerce, defence, law and justice.
Natchiappan was also associated with international parliamentary activities. He represented India at the United Nations General Assembly on two occasions in 2008, where he spoke on issues including UN peacekeeping operations, globalisation and independence. He was also a co-founder and president of the Parliamentarian Forum on Human Rights for Global Development.
A member of a Congress family, Natchiappan remained associated with issues concerning human rights, law, social justice and parliamentary affairs throughout his public life. His death marks the end of a political career spanning several decades in the Congress organisation and Parliament.