AR Antulay
Ex-Maharashtra Chief Minister AR Antulay (left) with former Secretarty-General, All-India Jain Minority Forum Bal Patil on 15th February, 2006.Creative Commons/Bal Patil

Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and senior Congress leader Abdul Rahman Antulay took his last breath at Mumbai's Breach Candy hospital on Tuesday morning.

Antulay, 85, who was admitted to the hospital last month following a kidney ailment, passed away at 10 am in the hospital, his son-in-law Mushtaq Antulay told PTI. 

His relatives said that he was also a heart patient and had undergone a bypass surgery in the past.

Born in Raigad, Maharashtra, Antulay pursued his studies in Mumbai at Bombay University and went to Lincoln's Inn in London to study law. A barrister and veteran Congressman, Antulay, served as the eighth CM of Maharashtra from 1980 to 1982 and was a part of UPA-I government.

He had to resign from the Chief Ministerial post after the Bombay High Court convicted him in cement scam. He was charged for illegally collecting donations and cements from Mumbai builders for his trust – Indira Gandhi Pristhan trust.

After stepping down as the Maharashtra CM, Antulay served as the Union Minister of Minority Affairs from 2006 to 2009 and was later elected as Member of Parliament of the 14th Lok Sabha, according to The Hindu.

Antulay went against his own party – Congress – in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, to support the candidate of Peasants and Workers Party (PWP). Antulay took the decision to support PWP after feeling hurt and betrayed when Congress gave away the Raigad constituency to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) without consulting him.