T'gana caretaker CM, political leaders condole Ananth Kumar's death

Telangana Caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and leaders of various political parties Monday condoled the death of Union Minister Ananth Kumar.

Rao remembered Kumar's services as a parliamentarian and political leader and conveyed condolences to the bereaved family, a release from Rao's office said.

Recalling his long association with Kumar, both in the party and in Parliament, BJP MP Bandaru Dattatreya said Kumar had rendered yeoman's services as a Union Minister in the NDA governments led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi.

Dattatreya also hailed the services of Kumar to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Expressing shock over the demise of Kumar, BJP state unit president K Laxman recalled the departed leader's services, including as the 'pramukh' for veteran leader L K Advani's 'yatra' in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Ananth Kumar, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister and long-time BJP leader, died at a private hospital in Bengaluru in the early hours of Monday after battling lung cancer for several months.

The Bangalore South MP, who returned home in October after undergoing treatment in the US and Britain, breathed his last around 2 am.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and leaders across the political spectrum condoled the death of the death of the six-time parliamentarian.