Congress leader Oscar Fernandes passed away on Monday, 13 September, in Mangaluru. He was 80 years old.
The former Union minister was undergoing treatment in an intensive care unit ward of the Yenepoya Hospital, Asianet Suvarna reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, via the official Twitter handle of the Prime Minister's Office, conveyed his condolences, saying that he was "saddened by the demise of Rajya Sabha MP Shri Oscar Fernandes Ji".
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi shared that Fernandes will be missed and fondly remembered.
According to news reports, Fernandes was hospitalised after he suffered a head injury in July, due to a fall. Later he was operated for a clot in his brain, Indian Express reported.
Fernandes began his political career as a municipal councillor in Udupi in 1975-76, and was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980 from Udupi. He won five consecutive elections in 1980, 1984, 1989, 1991, and 1996, India Today reported.
Fernandes had served as minister of road transport and highways from 2013 and had earlier served as the minister of state overseeing portfolios such as statistics and programme implementation, overseas Indian affairs, youth, and sports affairs and labour and employment in the 2004 Manmohan Singh government.
Tributes Pour In
Many Congress leaders, and other politicians, also expressed their condolences. Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a tweet, "A 'banyan' tree of the Congress Party has fallen. There will perhaps never be anyone like him."
Meanwhile, Union Minister of Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said, "Oscar Fernandes Ji is an irreparable loss to social, cultural and political fields."
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