BJP MLA B.N. Vijay Kumar, who died in the early hours on Friday following a massive heart attack, was hoping for a hatrick this time from Jayanagar Assembly constituency in Bengaluru.
The 60-year-old was a civil engineering graduate and a bachelor. He was known for his simplicity and mild manners. Coming from the RSS stable, he was one of the old-timers who was committed to the party ideology and rarely sought publicity. As he had pledged to be an organ donor, his family has donated his eyes.
“His humility, dedication and commitment to the party and people will be remembered. A great loss for us. Our condolences to his family,” said the BJP in an official tweet.
BJP State president B. S. Yeddyurappa expressed shock over the death, describing him as a ‘very decent politician’ who was known for humility and simplicity.
Leaders cutting across party affiliations paid their condolences. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in a message, described him as ‘a sincere and hard working political leader’.
Collapsed during campaign
Kumar, who was seeking re-election, collapsed during his election campaign on Thursday evening. He had been rushed to the Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research Centre. He breathed his last at 1 a.m. the following day.
Institute Director C.N. Manjunath said he was brought in an unresponsive state to the hospital. Doctors preformed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for at least one-and-a-half hours to revive him.
“Even as the CPR was being done, he suffered multiple arrests, nearly 20. We did an angiogram and a stenting procedure, but he could not be revived. We were surprised to find clot formation in the artery, which was near normal a month ago when he underwent an angioplasty in our hospital. The artery where angioplasty had been done was normal. This could be due to acute stress that he may have been undergoing,” the doctor said.
Advising poll candidates to regularly monitor their blood pressure and sugar levels, he said any discomfort or excessive sweating should not be ignored.
