The former MLA and senior leader of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES) Vasantrao Y. Chavan died following ill-health related to old age at his Khanapur residence on Sunday night. He was 84 years old and is survived by wife, four sons, two daughters and grandchildren.
His well-wishers took out a funeral procession before cremation of the body on Tuesday. A large number of people from various parts of the Khanapur assembly constituency and MES leaders and workers from Belagavi participated and paid their last respects to the leader.
Popular as V.Y. Chavan, he was actively involved in the struggle for transferring the villages and towns dominated by the Marathi linguistic community to Maharashtra since the reorganisation of States in 1957. He was also actively involved in protecting the ecology and bio-diversity of his home taluk Khanapur, situated on the fringes of the Western Ghats.
