New Delhi, February 21:

President of the Nepal Samata Party and former minister Narayan Singh Pun died this afternoon. He was 58.

Pun, who was suffering from kidney ailment, had been undergoing treatment at the Sir Gangaram Hospital here for the last two months.

His kidney had been transplanted just one and half months ago and since then he was recovering.

He is survived by two wives, four sons and a daughter.

Pun’s private secretary Shiv KC said he died at the hospital at 2:00 pm today and that his body will be flow to Kathmandu tomorrow.

“Medical doctors had allowed him to leave for Nepal. But, all of a sudden, fever gripped him from Sunday evening”, KC said.

The complications after his kidney transplantation developed in five to 10 per cent, KC said, quoting the medical doctors.

His youngest wife had donated her kidney to him.

Pun, who was retired Nepal Army Lieutenant Colonel, was elected to the House of Representatives as the Nepali Congress candidate from Myagdi district in 1999.

He was appointed as the Minister for Housing, Physical Planning and Works in the then cabinet headed by Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand during king Gyanendra’s direct rule. He had headed the government team formed to hold talks with the Maoists.

As head of the government talks team in the then Chand-led government, Pun had brought Maoists in Kathmandu for the dialogue from their hideouts by his own company’s helicopter, Karnali Airways, was the highlight of his political career.

He formed his own party Nepal Samata Party after Chand-led government was sacked by king Gyanendra.

He was also appointed Minister for Land Reforms and Management in the then government, headed by king Gyanendra himself.

He was listed as one of the 202 persons indicted by the high-level Rayamajhi Commission for

playing the active role to suppress the Jana Andolan II.

He was also suffering from diabetes and had a high blood pressure.