Chennai, Aug 8 (IANS): Tindivanam K. Ramamurthy, a veteran Congress leader and also the former President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC), died here on Sunday. He was 87.

Ramamurthy was one of the few Congress leaders who got elected to the state Assembly when the DMK came to power in 1967. He was later elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council in 1978 and was the leader of the Congress party in the council.

The funeral will be take place on Sunday evening at his native town of Tindivanam.

Ramamurthy was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1984 and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Tindivanam in 1991. He was appointed as President of the Tamil Nadu Congress in 1998.

In 2006, he was expelled from the party for giving an interview to Jaya TV, an AIADMK mouthpiece, while the Congress was in a political alliance with the DMK.

Ramamurthy then the floated Tamizhaga Indira Congress which was later renamed as Tamil Nadu Jananayaga Congress and extended its support to AIADMK. However, J. Jayalalithaa did not allot any seats for his party.

He also joined the NCP of Sharad Pawar and was the state president of the party briefly.

Ramamurthy was not active in politics for the past few years.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, TNCC President K.S. Alagiri and former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam condoled Ramamurthy's demise.