Former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha member Oscar Fernandes passed away on September 13, after a nearly two-month-long hospitalization.
The 80-year-old Congress leader was admitted to the Yenepoya Hospital in Mangaluru on July 19. And he was undergoing regular dialysis.
Mr Fernandes, who died at 2.15 pm, is survived by a wife, a son and a daughter, a hospital spokesperson said.
Hailing from Udupi, Mr. Fernandes was a Member of Parliament since 1980. As a Union Minister in the UPA government, Mr. Fernandes handled the portfolios of both Road Transport and Highways, Labor and Employment, Statistics and Program Implementation and Foreign Affairs. A cabinet minister and a minister of state.
He was among the close confidants of Indira Gandhi’s family, including former prime minister late Rajiv Gandhi, his wife Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul Gandhi. He served Rajiv Gandhi as his parliamentary secretary. He had served in various positions in the All India Congress Committee (AICC), including general secretary, and as the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). He was one of the six trustees of the National Herald.
He served as a member of the Lok Sabha from Udupi from 1980-98 and was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1998.
He had his early education at Board High School in Udupi and graduated from Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College in Udupi. He entered politics through Youth Congress and was elected to the then Udupi civic body in 1972.
He entered the Lok Sabha in 1980 from the then Udupi constituency, and was re-elected in 1998 until he was defeated by IM Jayaram Shetty of the BJP. Later, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha.
A practitioner of yoga, Mr. Fernandes spoke in Parliament in favor of Indian systems of medicine, including naturopathy.
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