<p>Former BJP president Bangaru Laxman passed away on Saturday at a private hospital in Secunderabad after suffering from lung ailments. <br /><br /></p>.<p>He is survived by wife, a son and three daughters. He was the BJP president between 2000 and 2001 and the minister of state for Railways in the A B Vajpayee government during 1999-2000. Laxman was jailed during Emergency in 1975. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1996. Later, he represented the Jalore Lok Sabha constituency in Rajasthan. <br /><br />A sting operation by Tehelka shook his political life. He had to resign as the party president in the wake of a nationwide outrage. The sting caught him accepting Rs 1 lakh as bribe. <br /><br />The 74-year-old Dalit politician from Andhra Pradesh was convicted by a special CBI court on April 27, 2012, for taking bribe under the Prevention of Corruption Act and sentenced to four years in jail. He was granted bail by Justice A K Pathak against a bond of Rs 50, 000.<br /><br /> In his last interview with Deccan Herald on former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal’s sexual harassment case, an ailing Laxman said: “What a fall, people who pretend to be righteous, stoop down to such low levels, immoral methods and practices in name of exposing corruption.” <br /><br />“Nobody can hide under the burqa for long,” he said from his hospital bed in Secunderabad last November. <br /><br />Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu expressed condolences on his death. </p>
<p>Former BJP president Bangaru Laxman passed away on Saturday at a private hospital in Secunderabad after suffering from lung ailments. <br /><br /></p>.<p>He is survived by wife, a son and three daughters. He was the BJP president between 2000 and 2001 and the minister of state for Railways in the A B Vajpayee government during 1999-2000. Laxman was jailed during Emergency in 1975. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1996. Later, he represented the Jalore Lok Sabha constituency in Rajasthan. <br /><br />A sting operation by Tehelka shook his political life. He had to resign as the party president in the wake of a nationwide outrage. The sting caught him accepting Rs 1 lakh as bribe. <br /><br />The 74-year-old Dalit politician from Andhra Pradesh was convicted by a special CBI court on April 27, 2012, for taking bribe under the Prevention of Corruption Act and sentenced to four years in jail. He was granted bail by Justice A K Pathak against a bond of Rs 50, 000.<br /><br /> In his last interview with Deccan Herald on former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal’s sexual harassment case, an ailing Laxman said: “What a fall, people who pretend to be righteous, stoop down to such low levels, immoral methods and practices in name of exposing corruption.” <br /><br />“Nobody can hide under the burqa for long,” he said from his hospital bed in Secunderabad last November. <br /><br />Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu expressed condolences on his death. </p>