Bhubaneswar, Dec 30 (PTI) Brajrajnagar MLA and ex-Speaker of the Odisha assembly Kishore Kumar Mohanty died on Thursday due to a sudden cardiac arrest, his family said.

Mohanty, 63, suffered a massive cardiac arrest while attending a meeting at the BJD office in Jharsuguda and was rushed to a private hospital where he breathed his last, they said.

Also Read | Omicron in Delhi: 96 Patients Test Positive for New COVID-19 Variant in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, Says Dr Suresh Kumar.

He was first elected to the assembly in 1990. He was the government chief whip from 2004 to 2008, and the speaker of the assembly from August 19, 2008 to May 25, 2009.

He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2014.

Also Read | China Renames 15 Places of Arunachal Pradesh in Its Map.

Mohanty was elected MLA from Jharsuguda thrice. In the last assembly election, he won the Brajrajnagar seat.

He emerged as a significant politician of western Odisha through students' politics. He was also the chairman of the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC).

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Speaker SN Patro mourned his demise.

"Saddened to know about Kishore Kumar Mohanty's demise. He was an efficient and popular leader of the party," Patnaik said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)