Karnataka Higher Education Minister V S Acharya died in Bangalore yesterday following a heart attack. “Acharya is no more. It is big shock to us and our party,” Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said at Mallige Hospital where the 71-year-old leader was rushed after he collapsed at a function. Acharya, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, leaves behind his wife, four sons and a daughter. Acharya, a medical doctor, was a native of Udupi, about 400km west of Bangalore. He was for 19 months during the 1975-77 internal emergency imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
