Sitaram Yechury never missed a chance to visit Alappuzha; specially for one reason

ALAPPUZHA: Whenever he visited the land of the communist uprising in Kerala, Sitaram Yechury made sure not to miss the iconic cuisine — Fish curry. The veteran CPM leader had a special liking for sea foods and crabs were his cravings.

Sitaram last reached Alappuzha in April to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. His first visit to the district was on February 18, 1985. It was to attend the SFI state conference in Kollam.

The car in which CPM leaders MV Raghavan and N. Sridharan were travelling met with an accident and eventually, Sridharan succumbed to his injuries. Yechury, who arrived for his funeral, spent the night at the CPM Alappuzha District Committee office.

At night, after having food from a roadside eatery in Thiruvambady, he reached the district committee office with CB Chandrababu, who was the then-district joint secretary of DYFI. Yechury made himself comfortable on a settee where he slept during the night. On the 19th morning, he went to Kollam and then returned after inaugurating the state conference.

In 1986, he came to Alappuzha for the second time to inaugurate the educational seminar at the SFI state conference. At the 13th Party Congress held in Alappuzha in 1988, Central Committee members Yechury and Karat were assigned to assist the Politburo.

Later, whenever Yechury came for election campaigns, CB Chandrababu became his companion while KV Sudhakaran and Adv. B. Rajendran the translators at that time. He last attended the Lok Sabha election general meeting at Alappuzha EMS Stadium in 2024. When about to leave, he promised to return to Alappuzha again, mostly to devour the sumptuous sea cuisines, ubiquitous in the district.