VISAKHAPATNAM: Former minister of Andhra Pradesh and senior Congress leader Vatti Vasanth Kumar passed away in Visakhapatnam during the early hours of Sunday. He was 70.
His wife Uma Devi passed away two years ago. They had no children.
Vasanth Kumar had been ailing with chronic kidney disease and had a kidney transplantation. He breathed his last while undergoing treatment at a corporate hospital in Visakhapatnam. His body has been shifted to his native place Poondla in West Godavari district.
Local Congress leader Govinda Raju said Vasanth Kumar had left active politics after the state bifurcation and settled down in Rushikonda area of Visakhapatnam.
A close friend of late chief minister Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Vasanth Kumar got elected as MLA for the first time from Unguturu, West Godavari, in 2004. When he got re-elected in 2009, he became the rural development minister. He continued in the same post during the Rosaiah government and became tourism minister when Kiran Kumar Reddy took over as chief minister of AP.
“It is a personal loss for me,’’ former minister and senior YSRC leader from Eluru All Kalikrishna Srinivas (Nani) told reporters after placing a wreath on Vasanth Kumar’s body in Poondla village.
Senior Congress leaders K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao and Vundavilli Arun Kumar, minister Karumuri Nageswara Rao and others visited Poondla village soon after the body arrived.
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