BENGALURU, Nov 25:
Veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister C K Jaffer Sharief passed away today at a private hospital here following a cardiac arrest, doctors said. He was 85.
Sharief was hospitalised after he collapsed while getting into his car for attending the Friday namaz.
Family sources said Sharief was not keeping well for quite some time. He is survived by two daughters.
Hospital sources said Sharief died of cardiac arrest.
“One of @INCIndia’s senior most leaders, many times MP and one of India’s most successful Railway Minister, Karnataka’s very own son Sri CK Jaffer Shareef has passed away,” Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao tweeted.
Congress MLA and Sharief’s family friend N A Harris said that the doctors had planned to implant pacemaker in his heart today but he died before he could be brought to the operation table.
Born on November 3, 1933 at Challakere in Chitradurga, Sharief had an illustrious political career spanning 50 years.
Launching his career under the tutelage of the then Congress stalwart and former Chief Minister S Nijalingappa, Sharief had, however, sided with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after the split in the Congress.
He was a seven-time MP from Bengaluru North constituency and served as the Railway Minister in the P V Narasimha Rao Government between 1991 and 1995.
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