Thiruvananthapuram:
Kerala Governor M O H Farook, who died in Chennai today, was an astute politician who dominated the Puducherry political scene for several decades often playing the role of the king maker in the union territory.
Rising from the ranks as a student leader, Farook went on to become the Puducherry Chief Minister thrice. 74-year old M O Hasan Farook had also served as Governor of Jharkhand, Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and as a Union Minister of State.
A man without any political foes, Farook was invincible in electoral politics, having been elected to the Puducherry Assembly from 1964 to 1991 and to the Lok Sabha thrice.
Farook, born on September 6, 1937 in Karaikal, a french encalve for long, had actively participated in the struggle for freedom of Pondicherry from French control in his student days.
He also had the distinction of being the youngest Speaker of Puducherry Assembly in 1964 at the age of 37, a post he had occupied for a second time in 1980.
He had also served as a member of the Central Haj committee from 1975 to 2000.