Ashok Gasti (14 November 1964 – 17 September 2020) was an Indian politician and a lawyer from

Raichur Raichur (formerly Raichore) is a city and municipality in the district of Raichur in the Indian state of Karnataka. Raichur, located between Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers, is the headquarters of Raichur district. It is located 409 km fr ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. He was a Member of Parliament who represented

in the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, for less than 3 months until his death in 2020. He previously served as the former general secretary of the

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

's OBC Cell and served as the chairman of the State Backward Class Development Corporation.

Political life

He was a member of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

and the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...

. He belonged to the Savita Samaj. He also served as party in charge for

Bellary district Bellary, officially known as Ballari (pronounced ), is a major district in Karnataka. It is located at north-eastern part of Karnataka. This district belongs to Kalyana-Karnataka. This district was one of the biggest districts in Karnataka unt ...

, Koppal district and

Raichur district Raichur District is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in the northeast part of the state and is bounded by Yadgir district in the north, Bijapur and Bagalkot district in the northwest, Koppal district ...

. His nomination along with Eranna Kadadi to the

in 2020 came as a surprise from the national leadership of

as they were never in the limelight. The BJP later said that the party believed in appreciating grass root level workers, hence rewarded them with this opportunity. Gasti had been associated with the BJP from his student days through the

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) () is a right-wing all India student organisation affiliated to the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). History The ABVP, founded in 1948 with the initiative of the RSS ...

(ABVP) and later became involved in the organisational work for the BJP. In 1989 he was made the president of

District Yuva Morcha.

Death

Gasti tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

in September 2020. He was hospitalized at Manipal Hospital and, by 17 September, he was in critical condition with severe pneumonia and multi-organ failure. That same day, senior government officials took to social media to express their condolences for Gasti's death, but the hospital denied this and said the lawmaker remained in critical condition. Hours later, the hospital confirmed that Gasti had died at 10:31 p.m. He was 55 years old.BJP's Ashok Gasti, 1st-Time Rajya Sabha Member, Dies Due To COVID-19
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References

1965 births 2020 deaths 21st-century Indian lawyers Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India People from Bellary district Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka {{Karnataka-BJP-politician-stub