K. P. Unnikrishnan (born 20 September 1936) is an Indian former politician, writer, Union Minister and parliamentarian of Vatakara constituency.

Life

K. P. Unnikrishnan was born on 20 September 1936 in a family from

Malabar Coast The Malabar Coast () is the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. It generally refers to the West Coast of India, western coastline of India stretching from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises one of the wettest regio ...

. His father's name was E. Kunhikannan Nair. He was educated at the Madras Christian College, Chennai. He completed his law also from

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. He was associated with Socialist Party and

Praja Socialist Party The Praja Socialist Party, abbreviated as PSP, was an Indian political party. It was founded in 1952 when the Socialist Party, led by Jayaprakash Narayan, Rambriksh Benipuri, Acharya Narendra Deva and Basawon Singh (Sinha), merged with the ...

during this period. In the 1960s, he joined

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

and became a member of the

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from States and union territories of India, state-level Pradesh Congress Commit ...

in 1962. He used to write articles for the

Mathrubhumi ''Mathrubhumi'' is a Malayalam newspaper that is published from Kerala, India. It was founded by K. P. Kesava Menon, an active volunteer in the Indian freedom struggle against the British. The word "Mathrubhumi" translates to 'mother land'. ...

and other periodicals as special correspondent. He entered into electoral foray when he first represented Vatakara constituency in 1971 as an

candidate. He remained unbeaten in the next five

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

polls (1977, 1980, 1984, 1989, 1991) despite switching over to the

Indian National Congress (U) The Indian National Congress (U) was a breakaway fraction of the Indira Gandhi-led Congress (I), formed in July 1979 by D. Devaraj Urs, the then Chief Minister of Karnataka. Urs' explanation of the split was the return of Indira's son Sanjay Gan ...

in 1980 and later to Indian Congress (Socialist) in 1984. In the period 1981–84, he was the leader of

Congress (Secular) Congress (Secular), is a political party in Kerala, India, it is a residual faction of Indian Congress (Socialist) that was formed in 1978. It is currently a part of Left Democratic Front in Kerala. Timeline In 1980 A. K. Antony part of Co ...

in the parliament. In the period 1980–82, he was also a member of the

Public Accounts Committee A public accounts committee (PAC) is a committee within a legislature whose role is to study public audits, invite ministers, permanent secretaries or other ministry officials to the committee for questioning, and report on their findings subseque ...

. He had served as the Minister for Telecommunications, Shipping, Surface Transport in the Vishwanath Pratap Singh ministry (1989–90). During his tenure as minister he oversaw the evacuation of Indians during

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. His only defeat in the constituency came in 1996. Unnikrishnan later quit active politics, shifted his base to

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

and then to his ancestral house at

Panniyankara Panniyankara has its origin in the 18th century situated in Kozhikode district, Kerala, India. The main features are police station, Government Homeopathy, Homeo Dispensary, Sathram Bus stop, Bus Stop and Indian Railways, Southern Railway. Gov ...

Kozhikode district Kozhikode (), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, along its southwestern Malabar Coast. The city of Kozhikode, also known as Calicut, is the district headquarters. The Kozhikode Municipal Corporation has a corporation l ...

, and dedicated himself to reading and writing books. In 1977, he married Amrita Unnikrishnan. They have two daughters.

References

Living people People from Kozhikode district Lok Sabha members from Kerala India MPs 1971–1977 India MPs 1977–1979 India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1984–1989 India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1991–1996 1936 births People from Coimbatore Indian Congress (Socialist) politicians Indian National Congress (U) politicians Praja Socialist Party politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala {{Kerala-INC-politician-stub