Bhubaneswar: Senior Congress leader and former minister Harihar Karan passed away in the early hours of Monday. He was 72.
According to his family sources, Harihar was suffering from a prolonged septicemia and was under treatment for the last three weeks. On the morning of January 2, he was shifted to AMRI Hospital after a fire broke out at Apollo Hospitals.
“Since he was on ventilator, his condition had deteriorated after it was removed for about five hours during shifting,” Harihar’s son Rajesh told the media.
Born at Karadapada village in Nayagarh district May 5, 1947, Harihar had begun his political career during his student days. He was the president of the Students’ Union of the Madhusudan Law College from 1968 to 1971.
A six-time MLA from Daspalla constituency in Nayagarh district, Harihar was elected for the first time in the sixth Assembly elections 1974. He was also elected from Daspalla constituency in the 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th (bye-poll) and 12th Assembly elections in 1977, 1980, 1985, 1995 and 2000 respectively.
He was the three-time minister in the JB Patnaik ministry between 1980 and 1989. Besides, he was the chairperson of the Disciplinary Committee of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) in 2013.
The mortal remains of the Congress leader were brought to his residence at Nayapalli, where several party leaders and intelligentsia thronged to pay their last respects. The body will be taken to Swargadwara in Puri for cremation later in the day, family sources said.