India's former defence minister and Planning Commission deputy chairman Krishna Chandra Pant died of a heart attack here Thursday. He was 81.
Popularly known as K.C. Pant, he was the union defence minister between 1987 and 1989 when the Congress was in power with Rajiv Gandhi as the prime minister. Pant was the son of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and former union home minister Govind Ballabh Pant.
Born in 1931 in Nainital, Pant studied at St. Joseph's College, did his Master's from Lucknow University and joined the Congress.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1962 at the age of 31. He continued his winning streak in subsequent Lok Sabha polls in 1967 and 1971, and was again elected in 1989.
He became a Rajya Sabha member in 1978 and leader of the house 1979-80. With 26 years as a parliamentarian, Pant served as minister of defence, finance, steel and heavy engineering, home affairs, electronics, atomic energy and science and technology in the union government.
Pant was also the first chairman of the advisory board on energy.
In 1998, when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to power, Pant joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In 2000, he was appointed deputy chairman of the Planning Commission by Vajpayee, who, as prime minister, was the panel's chairman.
Pant served in the position till 2004, when the NDA was voted out in the general elections. Pant's wife, Ila Pant was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998 on a BJP ticket from Nainital.
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