Former Cong minister in T'gana Mukesh Goud no more

Senior Congress leader in Telangana and former minister Mukesh Goud died at a private hospital here Monday, hospital sources said. The 60-year-old Goud, who had been suffering from throat cancer for the last two years, was admitted to the hospital Sunday night in a serious condition, the sources said.

The end came at 3 PM on Monday, they said. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who condoled the death, recalled the departed leader's services as a minister and MLA, a release from his office said.

Rao directed Chief Secretary S K Joshi to accord state honours for Gowda's funeral, it said. Senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, state Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and other leaders paid their last respects to the departed leader, party sources said.

"The death of Goud, who worked for the welfare of backward classes, is a great loss to Congress," AICC in-charge of party affairs in Telangana R C Khuntia said. Goud, who had represented Maharajgunj and Goshamahal in Hyderabad in the Assembly, served as minister in the governments of late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and N Kiran Kumar Reddy in undivided Andhra Pradesh..