Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with other BJP leaders payed tributes to former Union Minister and its senior leader from West Bengal, Tapan Sikdar, who passed away this morning at AIIMS here.
"Tapan Sikdar will be remembered for his rich contribution in building the BJP and his years of dedicated public service. Sikdar ji's demise is extremely saddening. May his soul rest in peace," Modi said in his tweets.
Veteran party leader L K Advani and Union Home Minister and party president Rajnath Singh also paid homage to Sikdar, who had won from West Bengal twice and became a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
He played an important role for the Bengal BJP and the party owes its achievements to the efforts of people like him, Advani said, extending his condolences to the bereaved family.
Singh termed Sikdar's demise a great loss for the party and prayed for courage to his family to bear with the loss.
69-year-old Sikdar, a senior BJP leader from West Bengal, had contested the Lok Sabha polls from Dum Dum seat, but lost.
He was an MP from the same seat in 1998 and 1999.
The BJP leader, who had been suffering from kidney-related ailment, was airlifted to Delhi four days back after his condition worsened and was admitted to AIIMS.
"Tapan Sikdar died here early this morning due to chronic renal failure. He was admitted four days ago in the Nephrology department and was in the ICU," an AIIMS spokesperson said.
