Former BJP MP, senior journalist Chandan Mitra passes away

New Delhi, Sep 02: Chandan Mitra, a former Bharatiya Janata Party MP, senior journalist passed away on Thursday.

"Since it is already out there; Dad passed away late last night. He had been suffering for a while," tweets Kushan Mitra, son of Chandan Mitra.

Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta condoled the demise of his closest friend Chandan Mitra.

"I lost my closest friend-editor of Pioneer & former MP Chandan Mitra-this morning. We were together as students of La Martiniere & went on to St Stephen's & Oxford. We joined journalism at the same time & shared the excitement of Ayodhya & the saffron wave," Dasgupta posted.

Considered close to veteran BJP leader L K Advani, Mitra was nominated to the Upper House in 2003 when the BJP-led NDA was in power at the Centre and again elected to the House in 2010 from Madhya Pradesh on the party's ticket.

However, his political stock within the party plunged under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, and he was left with little organisational responsibility.

He was fielded as the party's candidate from Hooghly in West Bengal in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and came a distant third.