In a shocking development, Tamil Nadu Congress MP and reputed businessman H Vasanthakumar has passed away due to the COVID-19 viral infection on Friday- August 28 at the age of 70 in Chennai, becoming one of the notable national faces to succumb to the global pandemic. 

A septuagenarian had been battling against the COVID-19 viral infection for the past three weeks. He was admitted to Apollo Hospital in Chennai on August 10, after he developed symptoms for the viral infection and he was in a critical condition under the support of the ventilator and ECMO and on Friday, his health further deteriorated and according to the hospital, he breathed his last at 6.56 pm on Friday. 

Besides his political career, Vasantha Kumar was widely known across the state for establishing Tamil Nadu's biggest appliances retail chain 'Vasanth and Co', which has its root in almost the entirety of the state and beyond its borders. His commercial brand had given popularity to him even before he became a politician and its branches had vastly etched his face among people, which helped him for a rampant reach as a politician. 

Vasanthakumar had joined the Congress party and he rose to become one of the significant leaders at the state wing of the oldest party. The deceased businessman turned politician had served the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for two times in 2006 and in 2016, representing Nanguneri Constituency and after his state-level political stint, he went for Lok Sabha after he won in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Kanyakumari parliamentary constituency. 

In 2019 polls, Vasanthakumar had taken and defeated BJP's MP Pon Radhakrishnan, then Union Minister, in Kanyakumari in a huge margin and entered the Lok Sabha for the first time. Sadly, it has now become his last as the global pandemic, which claimed thousands of lives in India, had claimed him too. Vasanthakumar is leaving back his story of how he attained the feat. From a humble background, he started working as a salesman in the seventies.  

In 1978, he seeded what has now become the largest retail empire in Tamil Nadu - Vasanth and Co, which is one of the top priorities for the people when it comes to buying home appliances and electronic goods. Since the firm was established, it had grown across the state and it has nearly 100 showrooms across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. 

Besides his commercial arm, he also owned the Vasanth TV channel. Vasanthakumar was the brother of former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President Kumari Ananthan, whose daughter is Tamilisai Soundarajan, the sitting Governor of Telangana. After the deceased leader won the Lok Sabha polls, he had been recognized as one of the important leaders of the Congress leaders and he also observed ties with the Congress leadership. 

Earlier this month, he was tested positive for the COVID-19 viral infection, becoming one of the notable faces to get contracted to the viral infection following which he was moved to the Apollo Hospital in Chennai and he had been battling for the past three weeks on Friday, he breathed his last and his demise had saddened the state and national Congress party and allied party leaders. 

After the news of his demise headlined, national leaders have been paying their condolences to the deceased leader. According to the reports, apart from Vasanthakumar, three MPs in Tamil Nadu had tested positive for the COVID-19 pandemic - Karti Chidambaram, Selvarasu, and Ramalingam. Vasanthakumar has become one of the well-known faces to succumb to the viral infection as on June 10, DMK's MLA J Anbalagan had died of the pandemic, becoming the first MLA to die due to the disease and so far, over 20 MLAs, including senior ministers, had tested positive for the COVID-19 viral infection. Vasanthakumar was born in Agatheeswaran in Kanyakumari district and he was surving with his wife and three children- Vijay Vasanth, Vinoth Kumar, and Thangamalar. Vijay Vasanth is the growing actor in Tamil Cinema who appeared in dozens of films.