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Ghani Khan Chowdhury passes away
Former Railway Minister and Congress leader ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury died in Kolkata.
Veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury died of acute pancreatitis at a city nursing home on Friday morning.
He was 79 and is survived by two siblings, Abu Hashem Khan Chowdhury and Ruby Noor, both legislators.
The veteran leader, fondly called 'Barkatda' by friends and followers, was on ventilatory support since April 3 after being diagnosed with critical gall stone pancreatitis and renal complications.
Experts from AIIMS, New Delhi had been attending to him.
A number of senior Congress leaders, including Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, former PCC president Soumen Mitra and working president Pradeep Bhattacharya rushed to the nursing home on hearing the news.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has also left for Kolkata by a special flight from Delhi.
Dasmunshi told reporters that Khan Chowdhury's last journey will begin around 2.30 pm on Friday from the nursing home and his body will be kept at Peace Heaven for a few hours in the evening for people to pay their last respects.
The Congress leader's body will be flown to his residence at Kotwali in Malda district at 7 am on Saturday and his last rites will be conducted there in the evening.
