Editor of Tamil magazine Thuglak and theatre personality Srinivasa Iyer Ramaswamy, popularly known as Cho Ramaswamy, died in Chennai early on Wednesday morning. The 82-year-old political analyst, who was close to late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, was admitted to Apollo Hospital last week for breathing problems and died because of a cardiac arrest. Ramaswamy had been suffering from a prolonged illness. He is survived by his wife, son and daughter.

Ramaswamy started off his career as a lawyer, but soon moved to theatre and then to journalism before being nominated to Rajya Sabha by the Bharatiya Janata Party, reported The Hindu. As a theatre personality, Ramaswamy was known for his satirical wit. All his productions had undertones of political and social criticism. His popular plays include Sambavami Yuge Yuge and Mohamed Bin Thuglak. Some of his plays were even made into films. Ramaswamy himself acted in 89 movies, reported The New Indian Express.

His magazine Thuglak made him a household name. Ramaswamy later went on to win the BD Goenka award for excellence in journalism. As a political advisor, Ramaswamy was close to late Congress president Kamaraj in the initial days. He had even acted as a mediator between Kamaraj and Indira Gandhi. He was also able to develop a rapport with Jayaprakash Narayan, LK Advani and later Prime Minister Narendra Modi.