Mani C. Kappan

Mani C. Kappan
Mani C. Kappan
Member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 9 October 2019
Preceded by	K. M. Mani
Constituency	Pala
Personal details
Born	30 May 1956 (age 68); Pala, Kottayam, State of Travancore–Cochin; (present day Kerala), India
Political party	Democratic Congress Kerala (2021-Present); Nationalist Congress Party (until 2021);
Known for	Meleparambil Aanveedu; CID Unnikrishnan B.A., B.Ed.; Mannar Mathai Speaking;

Mani C. Kappan (born 1956) is an Indian politician, film producer, film director and actor. He is the current Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of the state of Kerala for the Pala constituency.

Mani C. Kappan defeated Jose Tom Pulikkunnel of UDF during by-election in September 2019. This seat was vacant after the death of K. M. Mani, former Kerala Finance Minister. He was also the State Treasurer of the Nationalist Congress Party and had been the Convener of its Overseas Cell. He is the current MLA of Pala constituency. He is also a former volleyball international who played along with volleyball player Jimmy George.^[1] He is the producer of Meleparambil Aanveedu, one of the highest grossing Malayalam films of the early 1990s. It made the list of "14 Greatest Malayalam Movies Ever" as compiled by Manorama News. He was also the producer and director of Mannar Mathai Speaking, a popular Malayalam movie. He acted in around 25 movies mainly as antagonists during the 1990s.^[2]

Kappan is the incumbent MLA from the Pala constituency. On all the earlier occasions he was defeated by K. M. Mani who had represented the seat from its inception in 1965.^[3] He is the son of a former Member of Parliament, Cherian J. Kappan, who was also a freedom fighter. Kappan is also a well-known figure in Malayalam cinema, having produced about ten films and acted in around two dozen films. He even has two films to his credit as a director including a bilingual film in Assamese and Bengali. He was also an international volleyball player in the eighties.^[4]

Pala Seat Controversy

The brawl over Pala Assembly seat, which began during the by-election last year and was rejuvenated once again with the unexpected entry of the KEC(M) into the LDF, is furious despite denial by the LDF leadership. The NCP's state leadership is also divided over the issue. On 22 February 2021 he formed a new political party named Nationalist Congress Kerala, with Mani C. Kappan as the President and Babu Karthikeyan as the Vice President.^[5] His party had won one seat in 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election.^[6] In the election he defeated KEC(M) Chairman Jose K. Mani by more than 15,000 votes. Jose K. Mani's father K.M. Mani had held the constituency for fifty years.^[7]