Mamata Banerjee mourns Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi's death
Kolkata, Nov 20 (IBNS): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday mourned the death of former Union Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi.
She tweeted: "I am deeply saddened by the death of Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi. It is a great loss. May his soul rest in peace."
Dasmunsi died in Delhi's Apollo hospital at 12 10 am, the hospital sources said. He was 72.
He had been in a marathon coma after suffering a massive stroke and paralysis in October 2008.
Media reports quoted the hospital as saying that Dasmunsi had developed chest infection last month and had been in a critical condition for the past one month.
For years the leader remained speechless and unconscious of his surroundings as the blood supply to a part of his brain was cut off causing irreversible damage.
According to reports, his body systems were functional but he breathed through a tracheostomy tube attached to his neck and was fed through a PEG tube in his stomach. All basic life functions like breathing, blood pressure, sleepawake cycle were stable but he was not conscious of his surroundings.
Dasmunsi was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha representing the Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency of West Bengal when he suffered the stroke.
An astute orator and and a key leader of the Congress in West Bengal as well as at the national level, Dasmunsi rose from the rank of a Youth Congress worker, who became All India Youth Congress President in 1970.
He entered the Indian politics next year after winning the Lok Sabha election next year from south Kolkata at the age of 26.
He was sworn in as Union Minister of State, Commerce in 1985.
He was the cabinet minister in Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting during the first term of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
He also became President of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee in 2008.
Dasmunsi also served as the President of the All India Football Federation for nearly two deacdes.
He became the first Indian to be a match commissioner in a World Cup match in 2006. He was in charge of Spain vs Tunisia and Croatia vs Australia matches, both played in Stuttgart, Germany.
He represented Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency from 1999 till he fell ill. Later his wife Deepa Dasmunsi represented the constituency.
His family took him to Germany for treatment and was consulting a UK-based hospital, but with no result.
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