India, June 7 -- Thennala Balakrishna Pillai, a three-time Rajya Sabha MP and a veteran Congress leader who led the party to its most successful Assembly election in 2001 in Kerala, passed away on Friday at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. He was 95.

Pillai, the gentle face of the Congress in the state and a two-time state president, succumbed to age-related illnesses.

Pillai always advocated for consensus-building within the party and led the organisation through one of its most turbulent periods when it was divided into two factions led by K Karunakaran and AK Antony. Despite the intense strife, it speaks to his calibre as a leader who was acceptable to all that the Congress-led UDF was voted to power in the state in 2001 wit...