Guwahati, June 16 (IANS): Anjan Dutta, President of the Assam state unit of the Congress, died on Thursday of a cardiac arrest in New Delhi, doctors said. Dutta, a former transport minister of Assam and three-time legislator from the Aamguri constituency, was undergoing treatment since May 25 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi under pulmonary medicine expert Randeep Guleria.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) members in Guwahati said Dutta went to South Africa after the Assam assembly elections in April and fell sick on his return.
Dutta's body will be brought on Thursday to Rajiv Bhavan in Guwahati, where party leaders will pay tribute to the departed leader. The body will then be taken to his home in Sivsagar district for cremation on Friday.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday expressed "deep shock and grief" over the demise of Anjan Dutta. Extending her condolences to his wife and daughters of Dutta, Gandhi said that in his death, not only the Assam state Congress, but the entire Congress party and the state had lost a leader committed to the people.
