New Delhi: Union Minister Ananth Kumar on Monday breathed his last at a private hospital in Bengaluru. He was undergoing a treatment for cancer. He passed away at 4am. His death has come as a shocker to the party as he was a very senior leader and had been associated with BJP for a very long time.

All you need to know about Ananth Kumar:

  1. Ananth Kumar was influenced by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and was a member of ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad), which is the student wing of RSS.

  2. Kumar was one of the student activist during Indira Gandhi government and he was imprisoned along with thousands of other activists

  3. He was re-elected and was inducted into the Union cabinet headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayeeas the Minister for Civil Aviation

  4. He was the youngest cabinet ministry in Atal Bihari Government

  5. In 1999, Ananth Kumart was re-elected to a third consecutive term and became a cabinet minister in the National Democratic Alliance

  6. He handled various ministries like Tourism, Sports and Youth Affairs, Culture, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation.

  7. He became the President of the Karnataka state unit of BJP in 2003 and led the state unit which became the single largest party in the Legislative Assembly and won the highest number of Lok Sabha seats in 2004 in Karnataka.

  8. Ananth Kumar was holding charge of two key ministries - serving as Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers since May 2014 and as Minister of Parliamentary Affairs since July 2016.


Soon after the news of Ananth Kumar's demise came to light, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his family and paid his condolences. PM Modi also took on Twitter and expressed grief.

Even party Chief Amit Shah paid his condolences. Shah tweeted, "I am grief stricken to learn about the untimely demise of our senior leader and union minister Shri Ananth Kumar ji. He served the nation and organisation with unparalleled zeal and dedication. Ananth ji worked tirelessly to strengthen the BJP in the state of Karnataka".