Who was Ananth Kumar

Ananth Kumar began his political career as a member of the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and became the national secretary in 1985.

Union Minister Ananth Kumar passed away in Bengaluru on Monday.

After battling lung cancer for several months, Union Minister Ananth Kumar passed away in Bengaluru in the wee hours of Monday. He was 59. The senior BJP leader, who was on the ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit for the last few days, breathed his last around 2 am with his wife Tejaswini and two daughters by his bedside, PTI reported.

Tributes poured in for the six-time MP with Prime Minister Narendra Modi remembering him as an “asset to the BJP organisation”. “Ananth Kumar Ji was an able administrator, who handled many ministerial portfolios and was a great asset to the BJP organisation. He worked hard to strengthen the Party in Karnataka, particularly in Bengaluru and surrounding areas. He was always accessible to his constituents,” he posted on Twitter. The prime minister also spoke to Kumar’s wife and expressed his condolences to the family. Follow LIVE UPDATES here.

Who was Ananth Kumar?

-Ananth Kumar was born in Bengaluru on July 22, 1959, to H N Narayan Sastry and Girija in a Brahmin middle-class family. He had obtained a degree in law. He was married to Tejaswini and the couple has two daughters.

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-Kumar began his political career as a member of the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and became the national secretary in 1985. He was one of the most influential leaders in the state.

-After joining the BJP in 1987, he was appointed as the state president of the party’s Yuva Morcha and finally became the general secretary in 1995. He won the then Lok Sabha elections from Bengaluru South constituency. This was followed by his victory in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 from the same constituency.

-A key member of the BJP, he was appointed as the Minister for Civil Aviation in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government. He later served as the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers since May 2014 and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs since July 2016 in the Narendra Modi government.

-A strong believer in nationalism, Kumar was the first person to have addressed the United Nations in Kannada. His past-times included sight-seeing and playing with his children.

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