Ananth Kumar dead; 3-day mourning in Karnataka

Bengaluru: Ananth Kumar, Union Minister and senior BJP leader, died at a hospital in Bengaluru Monday morning. He was 59. Ananth Kumar was suffering from lung cancer and had returned from the US last month after treatment in New York.

The minister's wife Tejaswini and two daughters were with him in his last moments. His body has been kept at his home in Basavanagudi. On Tuesday, the body will be taken to Jagannath Bhavan, the BJP's state office in Malleshwaram and from there it will be taken to the National College grounds in Bengaluru for last respects. He will be cremated around 1 pm, state BJP General Secretary N Ravi Kumar said.

The national flag will fly at half-mast across the country as a mark of respect to the union minister. Karnataka has announced a three-day state mourning, and all schools, colleges and offices were closed on Monday.

Ananth Kumar was one of the few ministers to have also served in the previous BJP-led government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was the youngest minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet in 1998.