Kumaramangalam passes away

BANGALORE: Union Power Minister PR Kumaramangalam died in Delhi on Wednesday

following a brief illness. The minister had been in coma for the past nine days.

Mr Kumaramangalam, who had been suffering from myeloid leukemia, developed

multiple organ failure early last week. At 48, Mr Kumaramangalam was one of the

youngest ministers in the Vajpayee Cabinet. He was being treated at the All

India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. He is survived by his wife and

two children.

Coming from a family of politicians, Mr Kumaramangalam hailed from the Salem

district of Tamil Nadu. His father and grandfather were both Union ministers. He

began his political career as a Congressman and won his first Lok Sabha election

in 1985, soon joining the Rajiv Gandhi’s famed coterie of young and dynamic

politicians. In 1998, he joined the BJP.

Mr Kumaramangalam was closely associated with the Information Technology

industry and its growth during the early 90s. He became the Union Minister of

Science and Technology in the Narasimha Rao cabinet in 1990. Along with

Narasimha Rao, Mr Kumaramangalam carried forward Rajiv Gandhi’s vision of

spreading IT in the country. He firmly believed in the indigenisation of

software development.