Bangalore South Member of Parliament Ananth Kumar died at 2am today at Sankara Hospital in Bangalore due to lung cancer. Earlier reports had said pancreatic cancer but his office had denied all rumours of cancer in any form.
The BJP MP who was also the Union Minister for Fertilizers and Chemicals, and Parliamentary Affairs, died despite undergoing surgery only recently at a cancer institute in New York. HSR ward was part of his constituency and therefore, he was also the MP of this neighbourhood. And he was an MP of this Bangalore South constituency since 1996, an enviable feat by any standards - 22 years is a long time.
The government has declared a holiday to all the government offices and educational institutions in the state. All the schools and colleges, government and private, will remain closed today. All government functions remain cancelled till end of Wednesday as part of the three-day mourning announced by the Congress-JD (S) combine.
Ananth Kumar died at 59 years and was battling with cancer for some time now. He is survived by wife Tejaswini and his two daughters. His body will be kept for public display at National College in Basavanagudi today.
Says HSR Layout resident and lake activist Kavitha Reddy: "Very very sad to know that he is no more. When he visited Agara Lake as part of then CM's city visit in 2013, I passed on a slip to mention about Somasundrapalya Lake (Parangi Palya Lake) to him and to then CM and both mentioned about the lake and added momentum to our fight for Somasundrapalya Lake. He had promised Rs 25 lakh from MPLAD funds also to Agara Lake but that never happened as the state government sanctioned all the funds. Rest in peace, sir."
MIXED REACTIONS FROM NEIGHBOURHOOD SCHOOLS
But the schools in and around HSR Layout have reacted to the holiday in their crazy working style. National Public School has continued to hold classes today. Harvest is working for half the day. Delhi Public School is working till 11.30am. Vibgyor, Cambridge, TCIS and Ilma are shut.