Thiruvananthapuram,  Senior Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader and veteran politician T.J. Chandrachoodan, who was ailing for some time, passed away here at a private hospital on Monday. He was 82.

The veteran was just one of the three Keralites to have become the RSP's national general secretary and was a respected leader by his party's friends and foes for his in-depth knowledge on most issues.

Despite his best efforts, he however failed to contest the Assembly polls on a few occasions in Kerala.

A rank holder in MA, he later quit his job as a college professor in 1987 and took up full-time politics and rose to the level of the All India general secretary of the RSP.

The last rites of the departed leader are likely to be held on Tuesday.