M. A. Kuttappan

Kuttappan was born on April 12, 1947, to Ayyappan and Kalyani in a Dalit family in Valakkuzhy, Mallappalli Taluk in present-day Pathanamthitta District of Kerala.[1] He received his MBBS from Kottayam Medical College in 1977 and his MS from Thiruvananthapuram Medical College in 1979.[2]

Before joining politics, he served as a tutor in pediatric surgery from 1973 to 1975 in Government T D Medical College, Alappuzha, for five years from 1975 to 1980 as an assistant surgeon in the Kerala health services department and four years as a medical officer in the Cochin Port Trust Hospital, from 1983 to 1987.[3][4]

He has also served as a member of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, a member of the Southern Railway Recruitment Board, a member of the Calicut University Senate and a member of the KPCC Executive Committee.[3]

Kuttappan got attracted to mainstream politics and became active in organizational activities while serving as house surgeon at Ernakulam General Hospital from Kottayam Medical College.[6] He then resigned from the job to pursue full-time political activity.[6] Kuttappan joined the Indian National Congress in 1978 through the Congress Reform Committee.[1]

In 1980, Kuttappan was first elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly from Wandur constituency.[7] He was then elected as MLA from Chelakara in 1987 and from Njarakkal in 1996 and 2001.[7] From May 2001 to August 2004, he served as the Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes in the A. K. Antony cabinet.[7]

Kuttappan was one of the members of A (led by A. K. Antony) group in Congress politics.[2] The fight between the A and I (named after Indira Gandhi, led by Karunakaran) groups intensified and Oommen Chandy resigned from Karunakaran's cabinet because Kuttappan was denied Rajya Sabha seat on behalf of the group politics.[2][8] Kuttappan, who was in the cabinet when Antony became the chief minister, lost his ministerial post when Oommen Chandy became the chief minister.[2] It is believed that he lost his candidature in Njarakkal due to his later joining the I group.[2]

In 2013, he suffered a stroke during the MA John memorial speech at Kuryanadu and following that he retired from political life due to ill health.[9][10] Although he almost recovered his health through treatment, he did not enter active politics after that.[3]