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Former Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh

VILASRAO Deshmukh,  Union minister and Congress stalwart from Maharashtra, died in  a Chennai hospital after plans for a liver transplant came  unstuck following the demise of the donor.

Sixty-seven-year-old Deshmukh passed away at 1340 hours at the Global Hospital, a week after he was flown to Chennai from Mumbai in an air ambulance in a critical condition.

He is survived by his wife, Vaishali, and three sons - Ritiesh (Bollywood actor), Amit (MLA) and Dheeraj (manages family-run educational trusts).

The body will be cremated at his native Babhalgaon village in Latur district on Wednesday (August 15). It will be brought to Latur on Wednesday and kept at his house in Babhalgaon from 9 am to 3 pm for people to pay their last respects, his brother Dilip Deshmukh said.

“His heart stopped beating at 1.40 pm. As you know he has been suffering from liver failure which has led to kidney failure and also his lungs were being supported with ventilator and various drugs,” the hospital chairman K  Ravindranath told reporters.

Ravindranath said the minister was brought into the  hospital in a very serious condition.

An attempt to harvest liver from a brain dead donor from a government hospital in Chennai last night failed as the man died before doctors could operate on him, hospital sources said.

A team from Global Hospitals, where Deshmukh was admitted on August 6, had planned to retrieve the liver from the 31-year-old donor at the hospital, but he died, forcing them to look for another donor, the sources said.

The former Maharashtra Chief Minister had shown signs of  improvement and been on and off the ventilator before being  prepared for a transplant.

Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned for the day as a  mark of respect to the departed leader.

His death was announced by Home Minister Sushilkumar  Shinde in the Lok Sabha.

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