SP founding member Beni Prasad Verma dies

Beni Prasad Verma, a founding member of the Samajwadi Party and former Union minister who was considered close to party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, died on Friday. He was 79. The Rajya Sabha MP was not well for past few days. He was admitted to a private hospital in Lucknow, where he died around 7 pm, his son Rakesh Verma told PTI.

Verma was the telecom minister between 1996-1998 in then prime minister H D Deve Gowda's cabinet and was the steel minister in the Congress-led UPA government. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav reached the hospital and condoled his death. Verma is survived by three sons and two daughters. PTI ABN DPB HMB