PM Modi pays respects to late Karnataka minister Umesh Katti

Umesh Katti was a minister for forest, food, civil supplies and consumer affairs departments of Karnataka government.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his respects to the late cabinet minister of Karnataka, Umesh Katti, who breathed his last on Tuesday night. He was 61. Umesh Katti was a minister for forest, food, civil supplies and consumer affairs departments of Karnataka government.

Karnataka’s minister for food, civil supplies and consumer affairs Umesh Katti (HT File)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to social media and wrote “Shri Umesh Katti Ji was an experienced leader who made rich contributions to Karnataka’s development. Pained by his demise. My thoughts are with his family and supporters in this tragic hour.

The minister suffered severe chest pain on Tuesday evening and was rushed to the Ramaiah hospital from his house at Dollars Colony. Doctors declared him dead later that night.

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai too paid his respects to the late minister earlier, among many others in the political fraternity, including leader of opposition and former CM Siddaramaiah. Bommai remembered Katti's contribution to the development of the state and called him a ‘brother’.

“The body of Food Minister Shri Umesh Katti, who died of heart attack, was visited at Ramaiah Hospital late last night and condolence was conveyed to the family,” Bommai wrote on Twitter.

Umesh Katti was in the news earlier for demanding a separate state for the northern Karnataka region for its development (deeplink story pls). He also served as a cabinet minister in former CM B S Yediyurappa’s government.