Guwahati: Chandan Mitra, former Rajya Sabha member and journalist, who had been unwell for some time, died last night. He was 65.
“Since it is already out there; Dad passed away late last night. He had been suffering for a while,” tweeted his son Kushan Mitra.
Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta condoled the demise of his closest friend Chandan Mitra.
Known as a close associate of veteran BJP leader L K Advani, Mitra was nominated to the Upper House in 2003 when the BJP-led NDA was in power at the Centre.
He was again elected to the House in 2010 from Madhya Pradesh on the party’s ticket.
However, his political stock within the party plunged under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, and he was left with little organisational responsibility.
He was fielded as the party’s candidate from Hooghly in West Bengal in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and came a distant third.
Chandan Mitra was the managing director of Delhi-based The Pioneer till June this year.
In his illustrious journalistic career, he worked with The Statesman, The Times of India, The Sunday Observer, the Hindustan Times, before joining The Pioneer.