Gurudas Kamat, 63, is survived by wife Maharookh and son Sunil. (Photo courtesy: The Hindu)
Mumbai/New Delhi: Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Gurudas Kamat died in New Delhi yesterday following a massive heart attack. He was 63.
According to a family friend, Kamat complained of severe chest pain while having his morning tea at his home. He called out his driver who rushed him to a hospital in Chanakyapuri where he died within minutes.
Kamat, 63, is survived by wife Maharookh and son Sunil.
His body was to be flown to Mumbai last night and the funeral shall be held in Chembur this afternoon, said a party official.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, among other leaders, condoled the death.
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi visited the hospital where Kamat passed away and placed a wreath on his body.
Respected across party lines, the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had picked Kamat as part of a four-member official delegation to the UN in 2003 along with former Prime Minister I K Gujral and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.
Kamat represented former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the UN International Conference on Federalism in Addis Ababa in 2010.
A five-time Lok Sabha member from Mumbai, Kamat served as Union Minister of State for Home in 2009 but abruptly resigned in 2011 citing “personal reasons” after his appointment as Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Drinking Water and Sanitation. He served as Union Minister of State for Communications and IT.
Kamat resigned from the Congress in 2016 over his reported unhappiness with the functioning of the local party unit in Mumbai but was persuaded by the top leadership to withdraw it. In April 2017, he sprang another surprise by quitting all party posts though he remained a staunch Congressman till the end.
