Manjeshwaram MLA and Indian Union Muslim League leader P B Abdul Razak passed away on Saturday. He was 63.
Party leaders said he was ailing from respiratory infections and fever for the past three days and was admitted in a private hospital in Kasargod. He died around 5 am, they said.
The body has been taken to his house at Naimarmoola in Kasargod. Razak, a two-time MLA, registered a dramatic victory in the 2016 Assembly election by defeating the BJP’s K Surendran by 89 votes. The slender margin shook the party, but he gifted himself an Innova car and took 89 as its registration number.
He first became MLA in 2011, when he defeated CPM’s C H Kunhambu by 5,828 votes in Manjeshwaram constituency. Razak, a wealthy businessman, was also a member of IUML national working committees.
Born on October 1, 1955 to Beeran Moideen and Beefathima, Razak’s schooling stopped at class 9. He entered politics through Muslim Youth League, and went on to become the general secretary of the organisation.
He had been the president of Kasargod district panchayat; and president of Chengala gram panchayat for seven years. He is survived by wife Safiya, and children Shafeeq, Saira, Shyla and Shyma. His funeral would be held at Alampady Juma Masjid at 6pm on Saturday, said party leaders.