Former Union minister and senior Trinamool Congress leader Ajit Panja died of oral cancer at a private hospital here early on Friday.
KOLKATA: Former Union minister and senior Trinamool Congress leader Ajit Panja died of oral cancer at a private hospital here early on Friday.
He was 72 and is survived by a son and a daughter.
Panja who was treated abroad earlier, was admitted to the hospital on October 26. Hospital sources said he breathed his last at 4.30 am.
Panja, who started his political career in Congress and was elected to the West Bengal Assembly for the first time in 1971, held a number of portfolios in the Rajiv Gandhi and the P V Narasimha Rao governments, including the key Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
He became a founder member of Trinamool Congress-led Mamata Banerjee and won the Lok Sabha elections in 1998 on a its ticket and served as its chief whip in Parliament.
Panja was also Minister of State for External Affairs in the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
He was a minister in West Bengal in 1971 and 1972-77.
Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi visited Panja's Girish Park residence to pay his last respects.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, CPI-M politburo member and CPI-M state secretary Biman Bose, senior Congress leaders Pradip Bhattacharya and Subrata Mukherjee and former state Congress president Somen Mitra also visited Panja's residence.
Vice President Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee have condoled Panja's death.
In his message, Ansari said Panja's service to the country, especially to West Bengal, will always be remembered.
"He undertook important policy initiatives for the welfare of people and earned their admiration for his dedication, sense of public service and honesty.
"My wife joins me in sending our heartfelt condolences to the members of the bereaved family and wide circles of his admirers," he said.
Describing Panja's death as "great personal loss", Chatterjee said in his long innings as a political leader and as an MP, Panja made a mark in our national and parliamentary life.
His amiable and affable nature had endeared him to one and all cutting across party lines, he said.
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