Former Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker and veteran Karnataka BJP leader S Mallikarjunaiah today died of heart attack at Tumkur, party sources here said.
He was 83.
Mallikarjunaiah was Deputy Speaker in the tenth Lok Sabha (1991-1996) and got elected to the Lok Sabha thrice from Tumkur seat in 1991, 1998 and 2004.
He was also a member of Karnataka Legislative Council and had served as its Deputy Chairman.
Mallikarjunaiah was also the state president of erstwhile Bharatiya Jan Sangh. He, grounded in RSS, was among the leaders who had contributed greatly in building the party from the Jan Sangh days and in its subsequent form as BJP in the initial years, they said.
He is survived by wife, two daughters and a son.
