Former Member of Parliament S M Lal Jan Basha, who served as a prominent Muslim face of Telugu Desam Party for close to three decades, was killed in a road accident at Narketpalli on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada National Highway in the wee hours on Thursday.
Basha, 57, is survived by wife, a son and four daughters.
Basha was on his way to his hometown Guntur when the SUV he was travelling in hit the road divider and turned turtle, killing him on the spot.
The vehicle driver sustained serious injuries and was rushed to a private hospital for treatment, police said.
A pal of gloom descended on the TDP as news of Basha's death broke out.
Party leaders, soon after hoisting the national flag on the occasion of Independence Day, paid homage to the departed leader at the NTR Trust Bhavan in Hyderabad.
TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and other top leaders expressed shock over the tragic death of Basha.
"I am unable to digest the news that Basha has been killed (in a road accident). It is like losing a family member for me," Chandrababu said after visiting the district headquarters hospital at Nalgonda where Basha's body was kept.
As a party leader and an MP, he strove for the uplift of minorities, Chandrababu said.
Basha's death was a deep loss not only to the TDP but also for the country, he added.
It was shocking that the party's top leaders were getting killed in road accidents, he remarked.
Incidentally, Yerran Naidu, who remained the TDP's face in New Delhi for over a decade, was also killed in a road accident in Srikakulam district in November last.
