1933 – 2019 · Founder-leader, Kerala Congress (M)
Born in Pala · Lawyer · Statesman
Karingozhackal Mathew Mani — known simply as K. M. Mani across Kerala — was born on 30 January 1933 in Pala, Kottayam district. His father was K. T. Mani; his mother, Aliyamma. He studied law, built a practice as an advocate, and entered public life through the Kottayam District Congress Committee.
He married Kuttiyamma, a cousin of the veteran Congress leader P. T. Chacko. Together they had six children: five daughters — Elsa, Sally, Anie, Tessy and Smitha — and a son, Jose K. Mani, who today chairs the party his father founded.
Mani joined Kerala Congress in 1965 and was elected to the Legislative Assembly the same year from Pala — the first of thirteen consecutive wins from that constituency. In 1979, when the Kerala Congress fractured, he founded the Kerala Congress (M), giving the agrarian middle class of central Kerala its most enduring political platform.
1965 – 2016 · 13 consecutive wins · Longest-serving MLA in Kerala history
first win, Pala
final win, margin 4703 votes
Finance · Law · Welfare
K. M. Mani served as Finance Minister of Kerala across multiple governments, shaping the state's public finances for more than three decades. His command of fiscal policy earned him respect far beyond his own party.
A record 13 budgets as Finance Minister — more than any other person in Kerala's history. Each budget reflected his deep knowledge of the state's fiscal architecture.
From his first Finance and Law ministry in 1980 under A. K. Antony through the Oommen Chandy II government, Mani shaped budgets across both UDF and earlier coalition governments.
Adhvana Varga Sidhantham · Political philosophy
K. M. Mani's most original intellectual contribution — a deliberate counter to orthodox Marxist class theory that redrew the lines of Kerala's agrarian politics. First articulated at the Aluva Economic Resolution (1973); formally shaped at Charalkkunnu, 27–28 March 1978.
Farmers, agricultural workers, factory hands and salaried employees all belong to the same toiling class. Their interests are aligned, not opposed. Classifying small landowning farmers as 'exploiters' was, Mani argued, a fundamental error.
A farmer and the worker on his field share the same dignity of labour. The party that fights for one must fight for the other. Mani's theory demanded that the political movement unite both — rather than pit them against each other.
K. M. Mani gave the theory its formal shape at the Kerala Congress state committee at Charalkkunnu on 27–28 March 1978, building on the 1973 Aluva Economic Resolution. The theory was so compelling that even the Left was eventually forced to bring farmers into its political fold.
അധ്വാന വർഗ്ഗ സിദ്ധാന്തം
Download: Adhvana Varga Sidhantham (PDF)† The theory was reportedly presented at the British Parliament — a rare honour for a regional Indian political thinker.
Flagship welfare scheme · Finance Minister's initiative
Launched by K. M. Mani while serving as Finance Minister, the Karunya Benevolent Lottery directs a portion of Kerala State Lottery revenue to fund medical treatment for poor patients with serious illnesses — kidney disease, cancer, heart conditions and brain ailments. It is one of the most direct welfare pipelines built through fiscal policy in Kerala's history, transforming lottery proceeds into life-saving care for the state's most vulnerable citizens.