PATHANAMTHITTA: VS Achuthanandan, among many other laurels, is also the first communist chief minister to climb the holy hills of Sabarimala. The then chief minister was received with a vedi vazhipadu upon reaching the divine shrine. A good yarn still revolves around the incident, as it is said that everyone at the temple shrine laughed when the speakers blared “Vedi Vazhipadu for V S Achuthanandan Swamy’s long life”.

The visit was to inaugurate a 20-bed hospital at Sannidhanam and to understand the problems faced by the pilgrims. At the age of 84, Achuthanandan climbed the hill with the pilgrims on the evening of December 30, 2007.

Achuthanandan left at 5.45 pm and reached Sannidhanam after 8 pm. He stopped for a while before climbing Appachimedu. When asked to sit down and rest, he replied, 'Don't try to make me sit down. ' Health Minister P. K. Sreemathy, MLAs K. C. Rajagopalan, Raju Abraham, CPM district secretary K. Ananthagopan and others were with VS that day. The next day, VS walked down the hill.