Veteran NCP leader Vasant Chavan found dead

Mumbai, July 11 (UNI) Former Maharashtra Minister and Rajya Sabha MP from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Vasant Chavan, was found dead in his third-floor room at the Majestic MLA hostel in South Mumbai this morning.

State NCP general secretary Gurunath Kulkarni said Chavan (63) died in his sleep following a heart attack. His demise came to light when he did not respond to the knocking on his room by his driver.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, State NCP unit president Arun Gujrathi, Union Rural Development Minister Suryakant Patil and several other NCP leaders visited the hostel to pay their last respects to Chavan before his body was taken to J J hospital for postumortem.

Congress MLC Ulhas Pawar and BJP State unit president Nitin Gadkari also visited the hostel and paid their homage to the deceased.

Chavan was a former Minister, one-time MLA, and an MLC for 18 years, before his election to the Rajya Sabha (RS) last year.

Born on October 15, 1942 in Nashik, Vasant Chavan is survived by his wife and a son.

He graduated in law from Pune university and began his political career in 1970 as a corporator in Pune Municipal Corporation. He was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in 1980 from the Parvati Assembly constituency.

He became the Urban Development Minister in July, 1992 in the then Congress government. Later, he also held portfolios of Food and Civil Supply and Tribal Development. He was the general secretary and spokesman of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) till the time he joined the breakaway Congress group, NCP, led by Mr Sharad Pawar, in 1999.

Chavan was first elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council in 1986. When the first Congress-NCP government came to power in October 1999, he became the Excise and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Minister.

In April last year, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha and he was presently in his second-term. He was also on the Parliamentary Committee of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

A gold medallist in Sanskrit, Chavan headed several social institutions in Pune.

Meanwhile, Mr R R Patil, Mr Gujrathi, Mr Gadkari and Mr Pawar mourned the sudden death of Chavan and described hims as ''a good social and political worker and an upright human being.'' UNI MR-KU GK PK BD1514