Contesting against Oommen Chandy my biggest mistake: Cherian Philip

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader Cherian Philip on Tuesday mourned the death of party veteran Oommen Chandy and said that contesting against the latter in Puthuppally was the biggest mistake of his life.

Taking to Facebook, Philip called Oommen Chandy “a wonder man of Kerala politics,” and wrote, “Even when I criticised Oommen Chandy politically, never did he say a word against me.”

“Contesting against Oommen Chandy was the biggest mistake of my life. Immediately after I lost the election and returned to Thiruvananthapuram, he called and asked me to return to the Congress,” he wrote.

Philip further added that he had visited Chandy at his home and hospital several times, and maintained a warm relation with his family.

Oommen Chandy, who served as the chief minister of Kerala twice, breathed his last at Chinmaya Mission Hospital in Bengaluru at 4.25 am on Tuesday. He was 79. He had been undergoing treatment for cancer for a long time.