MANGALURU: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Oscar Fernandes breathed his last at a private hospital in the city on Monday. He was 80.
Oscar was hospitalised on July 19, a day after he fell down unconscious during morning exercise in his Mary Hill apartment.
A blood clot was detected in his brain following which he was being treated in ICU. His health condition was being closely being monitored by a team of renowned doctors including those from AIIMS, Delhi. He was critical initially but recently, sources close to him said he had started responding to the treatment.
His wife Blossom, son Oshan, and daughter Oshanie were present when he breathed his last.
Born in Udupi, Oscar was first elected to the seventh Lok Sabha from Udupi Lok Sabha constituency in 1980 and continued to win from the constituency four more times in 1984, 1989, 1991, and 1996. He was a Rajya Sabha member at this death.
Oscar was parliamentary secretary to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He also held several portfolios including road transport and statistics in the UPA government led by Dr Manmohan Singh. He was considered close to the Nehru-Gandhi family.