E Ahamed was admitted at Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia hospital after he suffered cardiac arrest.
Highlights
- The senior leader from Kerala died early Wednesday morning in New Delhi
- He suffered a cardiac arrest in parliament just as budget session began
- Mr Ahamed was the president of the Indian Union Muslim League
Former Union Minister E Ahamed, who collapsed Tuesday morning in parliament, has died. He was 78. Mr Ahamed was admitted at Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital after he
suffered a cardiac arrest while both houses of parliament were being jointly addressed by President Pranab Mukherjee. At around 2.15 pm, Mr Ahamed was shifted to the RML trauma centre's ICU where he was put on ventilator. Mr Ahamed died at 2:15 am at RML hospital.
"E Ahamed has passed away at 2:15 am. His body has been taken to AIIMS hospital for embalming (a method to preserve a corpse from decaying) as the facility is not available at RML," a senior RML doctor was quoted by PTI.
His body will be taken to Kerala later today.
Mr Ahamed, who has served as Minister of State for External Affairs in Dr Manmohan Singh's government, represented Kerala in the Lok Sabha and was the president of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
News of his death was preceded by high drama as Mr Ahamed's family earlier alleged that they were not allowed to meet him by hospital authorities.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi, besides other party leaders visited the hospital late on Tuesday night to enquire about Mr Ahamed's health.
"Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel rushed to the RML hospital because E Ahamed's family, who collapsed today, is not being permitted to meet him or to know about his well being. This is complete high-handedness of the government," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala was quoted by news agency PTI.
He said the government has stopped the blood relatives of the former Union Minister from meeting him or knowing about his critical state at such a time.
Quoting its sources, PTI said that Ahamed's son, daughters and son-in-law had an exchange of hot words with the hospital authorities.
"I am not being allowed to see my father, it's my right. How can I not be allowed," son of E Ahamed was quoted by news agency ANI.
E Ahamed represented the Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency from Kerala.
(with inputs from agencies)