Former Union minister and Bengal BJP president Satyabrata Mookherjee breathed his last in Calcutta on Friday morning. He was 90.

Mookherjee, who was known by his nickname Jolu, had been suffering from a prolonged illness. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and national BJP president J.P. Nadda condoled Mookherjee’s death on their respective social media handles.

In a statement issued by the state secretariat, chief minister Mamata Banerjee paid her respects to Mookherjee. “Pained by the passing away of former Union Minister Shri Satyabrata Mookherjee. He played a vital role in building the BJP in West Bengal. He was respected for his legal acumen as well as intellectual prowess. Condolences to his family. Om Shanti,” Modi wrote on his Twitter handle.

Mamata described Mookherjee as a “prominent politician, popular barrister, and former union minister”. She said the demise of the “long-standing, experienced politician is a major loss for the world of politics”.

Mookherjee was born on May 8, 1932. Before being elected as the MP from Krishnagar in 1999, he served as the additional solicitor general of India. After he was elected as MP, he first served as the Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers (2000-2002) and then as the Union minister of state for commerce and industries (2002-2004) in the cabinet of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

In 1999, Mookherjee and Tapan Sikdar, who won from the Dumdum, were the only two BJP MPs from Bengal. Later, Mookherjee served as the seventh president of the Bengal BJP from 2008 to 2009. He contested parliamentary polls in 2014 as well, but despite the strong Modi wave, he failed to secure more than 16 per cent votes.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, despite his ailing health, he campaigned for BJP’s Kalyan Chaubey in Krishnagar. Three lawyers’ bodies — the Bar Library Club, the Bar Association, and the Incorporated Law Society— in Calcutta High Court decided not to attend work on Friday as a mark of respect to Mookherjee.