Former Union Minister and Congress leader Jaffer Sharief passes away at 85

Former Union Minister and veteran Congress leader from Karnataka Jaffer Sharief died at a private hospital here on Sunday following a heart attack, a party official said. He was 85.

"Sharief passed away around 12.30 p.m. at Fortis Hospital in the city centre.

"He was admitted on Friday after he collapsed at home. He was ailing for sometime with age-related problems," party's state unit spokesman Ravi Gowda told IANS.

A veteran parliamentarian from Bengaluru North and Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituencies, Sharief was Union Railway Minister from 1991-1995 under the P.V. Narasimha Rao government at the Centre.