Oscar Fernandes, a former Union minister and a senior Congress leader, passed away at a private hospital in Mangaluru. He was 80.Fernandes, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Mangaluru after he suffered a fall while exercising. Former Congress General Secretary and Karnataka MLC B K Hariprasad tweeted: “It’s saddening to hear about demise of our senior leader Shri Oscar Fernandes. He combined tradition & modernity. Fernandes was also a trained performer of traditional dance forms Kuchipudi and Yakshagana.
Fernandes was the Union Cabinet Minister for Transport, Road and Highways in the Manmohan Singh-led government. During the same tenure, he was also given the additional charge of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. He served as Parliamentary Secretary to Rajiv Gandhi. He was elected to the 7th Lok Sabha in 1980 from Udupi constituency in Karnataka. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1984, 1989, 1991 and 1996 from the same constituency. Later, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1998. He was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2004. He was a Union Minister from 2004 to 2009, holding a number of portfolios such as Statistics and Programme Implementation, NRI Affairs, Youth and Sports Affairs and Labour and Employment. He served two terms as a member of the Council of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He is survived by his wife, son and a daughter.