Former Union minister and veteran Congress leader from Karnataka M.V. Rajasekharan (91) passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Monday. Multiple organ failure was reported the cause of death. He served as the Union Minister of State for Planning and Statistics in the Manmohan Singh government in 2004.
Rajasekharan debuted in electoral politics in 1967, winning the Kanakapura parliamentary constituency. Born in Maralawadi in Kanakapura, he pursued bachelor in arts from the Maharaja's College in Mysore. As a student leader, who was part of the Indian freedom struggle, Rajasekharan was also associated with various farmers' associations before joining the Mysore Pradesh Youth Congress in 1966.
The nonagenarian leader was a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee. Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa condoled the death of Rajasekharan and remembered him as a politician with "simplicity, humility and great maturity". The chief minister also noted that the Rajasekharan, son-in-law of former chief minister S. Nijalingappa, was an authority on rural economy and had set up an institute to study rural development. "He was known for value-based politics," said Yediyurappa.
Rajasekharan also has the unique distinction of being a member of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and the Upper House of the Karnataka Legislative Council. In 2017, the veteran Congress leader surprised his party when he wrote an open letter praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the BJP won the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand assembly elections.
Rajasekharan wrote, “Your kind self has been able to establish direct rapport with the electorate, specially the younger generation who constitute nearly 82 per cent of our poor people.” Rajasekharan drew a parallel between Modi and Indira Gandhi, saying Modi too had rightly addressed certain sections of society, which his own party could not do.
He leaves behind his wife, two daughters and two sons.
