Kerala ex-minister M.P. Gangadharan dead

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress leader and former Kerala minister M.P. Gangadharan died Monday here at a private hospital, family sources said.The six-time legislator was a minister in the 1982 cabinet of K. Karunakaran.A close confidant of Karunakaran, Gangadharan, 77, was last elected to the Kerala sssembly in 2001. He quit the assembly after Karunakaran in 2005 formed the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran).After he lost the 2006 assembly polls, Gangadharan went into political wilderness and was recently given the nod to return to the Congress, but kept away from any political activity.He is survived by his wife and two sons and a daughter.