Union Power Minister P M Sayeed, who was suffering from enlargement of liver, died of heart attack in Seoul on Sunday, his office sources in New Delhi said. He was 65.
Sayeed, who was the senior most parliamentarian and a member of Rajya Sabha, was in the South Korean capital of Seoul for medical treatment, the sources said.
They said his liver had developed symptoms of malignancy. This was his third visit to Seoul in the last two months for
treatment which had to follow a particular course. Sayeed breathed his last at Hyundai hospital in Seoul.
He had been elected to Lok Sabha from Lakshadweep a record number of nine times beginning in 1971. He had been its member in 1977, 1980, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998 and 1999 before his winning streak was halted by young member Muthu Koya in May 2004 general elections.
He became the Deputy Speaker of the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999 and remained in that post till dissolution of the House in 2004 when he was appointed the power minister on Congress' return to power. Sayeed was the youngest member of the Lok Sabha when he was elected to it for the first time.