Union Minister Ananth Kumar dead (Lead)

Bengaluru, Nov 12 (IANS) Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar died on Monday at a private hospital here due to multi-organ failure, a party spokesman said. He was 59."Kumar passed away at around 3 a.m. at Shankara Cancer Hospital in the city's southern suburb due to multi-organ failure three weeks after he was admitted on return from the US on October 21," party's spokesman S. Shantaram told IANS.The Minister is survived by his widow Tejaswani and two daughters Aishwaraya and Vijayeta.Kumar, who represented the Bengaluru South Lok Sabha constituency since 1996, had undergone treatment for cancer in the UK and US since August."Kumar first went to London after the monsoon session of Parliament in July-August for treatment and was shifted to another hospital in the US. The cancer spread to other parts of the body, resulting in multi-organ failure," added Shantaram.
--IANS bha-fb/ksk