Belgaum (Karnataka), Nov 20 Veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister B. Shankaranand died at a private hospital here this morning.

He was 84. Shankaranand had been suffering from heart disease for quite some time. According to hospital sources, he had been put on ventilator support after developing breathing complications three days ago.

Shankranand, a Gandhi family loyalist represented the Chikkodi (Reserve) constituency in the Lok Sabha for eight times in a row from 1967 to 1991.

He had also served in the cabinets of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao and had handled the ministries of petroleum and health.

Shankaranand also headed the parliamentary committee that probed the controversial Bofors gun deal. (ANI)