Bengaluru: Former union minister and senior Congress leader CK Jaffer Sharief passed away on Sunday at a hospital in Karnataka's Bengaluru. Sharief was 85 years old. He was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Fortis Hospital on Cunningham Road. Reports said that He was hospitalized after he collapsed while getting into the car for Friday namaz.

Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao poured in his condolences following the death of the senior Congress leader.

Rao took micro blogging website twitter and wrote, "One of @INCIndia's senior most leaders, many times MP and one of India’s most successful Railway minister, Karnataka's very own son Sri CK Jaffer Shareef has passed away. A national leader who had a great connect across all communities, a truly secular leader. My condolences."

Worth mention here the death of Sharief is the second hinder for grand old Congress party in a day as it comes hours after the death of another party leader MH Ambareesh. It is noted that three-day mourning had already been declared in Karnataka after the decease of former union minister MH Ambareesh who passed away on Saturday night following a cardiac arrest.