Former Rajya Sabha MP and veteran journalist Chandan Mitra died late on Wednesday. He was 66.

His son Kushan Mitra confirmed the news on Twitter. “Dad passed away late last night,” he wrote. “He had been suffering for a while.”

Chandra Mitra was the editor of The Pioneer. In June, he resigned as the printer and publisher of the newspaper.

Chandan Mitra began his journalism career with The Statesman in Kolkata, then moved to The Times of India in Delhi and later worked as an editor at The Sunday Observer.

He also worked with the Hindustan Times as an executive editor. Following this, he joined The Pioneer. Chandan Mitra eventually gained control of the newspaper from the previous owners in 1998 when the company ran into financial troubles, according to Firstpost.

Chandan Mitra studied at the La Martinière For Boys in Kolkata and was a batchmate of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Swapan Dasgupta.

The veteran journalist joined the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in 2018.

As a BJP leader, he served as a two-term Rajya Sabha MP between August 2003 and 2009, and then again between June 2010 and 2016. The politician was a close aide of BJP veteran leader LK Advani.

As the news of Chandan Mitra’s death broke, tributes poured in.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Chandan Mitra will be “remembered for his intellect and insights”. “He distinguished himself in the world of media as well as politics,” he tweeted. “Anguished by his demise. Condolences to his family and admirers.”

Dasgupta expressed grief about losing his close friend. “We were together as students of La Martiniere and went on to St Stephen’s and Oxford,” he tweeted. “We joined journalism at the same time and shared the excitement of Ayodhya and the saffron wave.”

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor recalled Chandan Mitra’s work as his campaign manager during the student body election in St Stephen’s college. “We remained in touch over the years, ironically till I returned to Delhi and politics separated us,” he tweeted.

Here are a few other tributes: