New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, who was in coma since 2008, today passed away at a hospital here.

He was 72.

"He had been critically ill since the past one month and succumbed to the illness at 12.10 pm. His family members including wife Deepa Dasmunsi and their son were at his bedside at that time," Apollo hospital authorities said.

The former Union minister had suffered a stroke in 2008 and was hospitalised since then.

Here are five points about Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi

  • Dasmunsi was heading the All India Football Federation (AIFF)

  • He was in coma for eight years

  • Dasmunsi was President of Indian Youth Congress in West Bengal from 1970 to 1971

  • Dasmunsi Ministry of Information and Broadcasting during the first term of Manmohan Singh. He took several controversial decisions, including several bans of Western television networks.

  • Dasmunsi served as the President of the All India Football Federation for almost 20 years.