India News | Former BJP MLA Dies After Prolonged Illness in Jammu

Jammu, Jun 7 (PTI) Senior BJP leader and former MLA Rajesh Gupta died on Tuesday after a prolonged illness at a hospital here. He was 53.

Gupta is survived by his wife and three children – two daughters and a son, a BJP leader said.

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Principal of Government Medical College and Hospital Shashi Sudan Sharma said Gupta was suffering from brain tumour for the last eight years.

"He was admitted in the hospital for 15 days and was discharged recently after feeling better. He was brought back to the hospital around 2 pm with aspiration (pneumonia) and breathed his last around 5.40 pm," she told PTI.

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Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina expressed grief over the death of his colleague and said “the party has lost a promising leader and his untimely demise has left a void which is very hard to be filled.”

“We both were elected as legislators in 2014 and he proved his mettle within and outside the assembly. He was very popular among the masses and rose from an ordinary party worker to become a legislator,” Raina, who visited Gupta's house after his death, said.

He expressed his condolences to the bereaved family and prayed for the departed soul.

Media secretary of BJP Pardeep Mahotra said Gupta's cremation will take place on Wednesday.

“We have lost a leader who was very close to the public and his departure is a big loss for all of us,” Mahotra 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)