Alappuzha (Kerala) | Former Congress MLA M Murali died at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, Congress leaders on Thursday said.

He was 72.

A native of Cherukole in Mavelikkara in Alappuzha district, Murali served as a Congress legislator from 1991 to 2011, having been elected consecutively from the Mavelikkara Assembly constituency.

He began his political career as a member of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) in 1969. He became the KSU general secretary in Alappuzha district in 1972 and was elevated as district president in 1977.

In 1980, Murali was elected president of KSU Kerala.

He later served as general secretary of the Kerala Youth Congress for seven years from 1982.

Murali was also a member of the first Senate of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.

He served as a consultative committee member of the Kerala State Electricity Board, a director on the board of Kerala State Financial Enterprises, and a member of the Kerala State Youth Welfare Board.

He was serving as a KPCC working committee member and state chairman of the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayati Raj Committee of the Congress party.

Murali is survived by his wife K S Rema Devi and sons Mithun, Mridul and Mrinal.

Congress leader A A Shukkoor told PTI that Murali had health issues following Covid-19.

"He suffered a cardiac arrest in the morning and passed away at the hospital in Thiruvananthapuram," Shukkoor said.

He said the body would be kept at the KPCC office in Thiruvananthapuram before being taken to Mavelikkara for cremation, the timing of which would be decided soon.