India's Cabinet Minister, Congress Leader Vilasrao Deshmukh Dies

By Amrutha Gayathri | August 14 2012 6:50 AM

India's cabinet minister and former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh died Tuesday at a hospital in Chennai, Indian media reported. He was suffering from malignant hepatoma, a type of liver cancer, which had led to multiple organ failure.

Vilasrao Deshmukh (Wikimedia commons)

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Deshmukh, who was the Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, was twice elected the chief minister of Maharashtra state.

The 67-year-old politician, who is survived by his wife and three sons, had been on and off the ventilator as the doctors prepared for a liver transplant. However, plans to transplant liver from a brain-dead man had failed following the man's death earlier than expected.

Deshmukh had to resign his position as Maharashtra chief minister following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and was later hit by several corruption allegations including the Adarsh Housing Society scam that dated back to 2002.

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