Guwahati: Veteran Congress leader and former Assam Chief Minister Bhumidhar Barman died here on Sunday evening after protracted illness, Congress leaders said. He was 89.
He is survived by a son and a daughter. His wife had predeceased him.
Congress sources said that the veteran leader had been on ventilator support at the ICU of Dispur Hospital for the last 28 days.
Barman, a member of the Assam Assembly seven times since 1967, held the Chief Minister’s chair twice – once between April 22, 1996, and May 14, 1996, after the death of then Chief Minister Hiteshwar Saikia, and then, again in 2010, when then Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi was on leave on medical grounds.
A graduate from Assam Medical College in Dibrugarh in 1958, Barman was a minister in the Saikia and Gogoi governments, holding important portfolios like Health, Education and Revenue. His son, Diganta Barman, is currently the Congress candidate from Barkhetry constituency.
