Bengaluru/Mysuru: The state is trying to come to terms with the loss of Actor-turned-politician MH Ambarish and the second jolt of the death of senior Congress leader Jaffer Sharief came on Sunday, November 25. He was 85.

“Sharief passed away around 12.30 p.m. at Fortis Hospital in the city centre.

“He was admitted on Friday after he collapsed at home. He was ailing for some time with age-related problems,” party’s state unit spokesman Ravi Gowda told IANS.

Sharief was born on November 3, 1933 at Challakere in Chitradurga.

He was the union railway minister was identified as one of the close associates of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

When the Congress broke into two factions, following disagreements between Indira Gandhi and S Nijalingappa, Sharief joined Indira faction and distanced himself from S Nijalingappa, former CM of Karnataka, despite the fact that She Nijalingappa brought him to the Congress fold. He then continued to be a close associated of both Indira as well as former PM Rajiv Gandhi.

He is survived by his wife and four children.

With inputs from IANS

Former Railway Minister Jaffer Sharief’s contribution to Karnataka in general and Mysuru in specific has immense. He was the railway minister who introduced many express trains to Mysuru including Chennai –Mysuru Shatabdi Express.

Apart from this, he was person who set up Railway Board in Bengaluru. Earlier Railway board was only in Chennai due to which Kannadigas had difficulty to get into railways but after establishing railway board in Bengaluru many people from Karnataka have managed to get jobs in railway. He was also responsible for Inland Container Depot which was set up in Bengaluru.

Unigauge- that is the only broad gauge across the country was taken up during his time. Across the state including between Mysuru-Bengaluru, Mysuru-Hubli, broad gauge is a reality because of him. Apart from this he was also responsible for separate railway zone for Karnataka ‘South Western Railway.

Before South Western Railway zone was established, the employees who were working across the state were under Southern Railway with headquarters in Chennai, but after South Western Railway came into existence separate railway board was set up in Bengaluru. 

Jaffer Sharief was also instrumental in upgrading Central Railway Workshop in Ashokapuram, Mysuru. He was also instrumental in broad gauge conversion between Mysuru and Chamarajangar. 

( A report by Uday Kumar)