Bengal Congress leader PR Dasmunsi dies after 8 years in coma

Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, the veteran Congress leader and five-time MP, died on Monday at Apollo Hospital in Delhi. He was comatose for the last eight years and was hospitalised after a heart attack and a stroke in 2008. He was 72 and is survived by his wife Deepa Dasmunshi and a son.

Dasmunsi was born in Chirirbander now in Bangladesh and became active in politics since the late 1960s. He rose to prominence when he became Youth Congress president in 1970-71. He has represented South Calcutta, Howrah and Raiganj constituencies in Parliament, the last such election in 2004. He was also the chief whip of the Congress parliamentary party in Lok Sabha.

He contested from Raiganj from 1999 to 2009. After him, his wife Deepa contested from the constituency. When he suffered the heart attack in 2008, he was Parliamentary Affairs Minister. A football aficionado, Dasmunsi headed the All India Football Federation for 20 years. He has written a political novel, Anek Rakta Anek Nam, and several poetry collections.

Dasmunsi was also the president of Gan Sanskriti Sangsad, a mass cultural organisation founded by the late Dr Nihar Ranjan Roy.