KATHMANDU: India's former minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Jaswant Singh, passed away in New Delhi on Sunday. He was 82.

Singh, who was suffering from illness for a long time, died today at 6:55 am at Delhi's Army Hospital (Research & Referral) where he had been admitted in June.

He had served in the Indian Army before resigning to enter politics. Jaswant Singh, who hails from Rajasthan, later on went on to become India's foreign minister, defense minister and finance minister.

He was one of the founding members of the BJP.

"It is with profound grief that we inform about the sad demise of Honourable Major Jaswant Singh (Retired), former Cabinet Minister of government of India at 0655 hours on 27 September 2020. He was admitted on 25 Jun 2020 and being treated for Sepsis with Multiorgan Dysfunction Syndrome and effects of Severe Head Injury old (Optd) had a Cardiac arrest this morning," a statement issued by the hospital read.

"Despite the best efforts of the attending team of specialists to resuscitate him, he could not be revived and passed away at 0655 hours on 27 Sep 2020. His COVID status is negative," it further said.

In a tweet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences in the demise of Jaswant Singh:

Spoke to Shri Manvendra Singh and expressed condolences on the unfortunate demise of Shri Jaswant Singh Ji.

True to his nature, Jaswant Ji fought his illness with immense courage for the last six years.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 27, 2020