Bidar (Karnataka), Apr 20 (IANS): Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) first MLA in south India, Syed Zulfiqar Hashmi from Bidar, died on Tuesday morning in Hyderabad due to renal failure, family sources said here.

The family informed that he had been undergoing dialysis for the past four months and was admitted to Asara Hospital in Hyderabad two days ago due to deteriorating health. "He died without responding to the treatment at the hospital," afamily member told reporters.

His Facebook page confirmed that his funeral will be held on his farm in Ashtur in Bidar.

Elected from the Bidar constituency in 1994 on the BSP ticket, he was the first MLA from the party in southern India.

Hashmi's last political message was given on April 16 on his Facebook page, in which he appealed to Muslim voters in Basvakalyan to vote in favour of Janata Dal-S candidate, Syed Yasrub Quadri, in the bypoll.

In his appeal, he said that he was very good friend of B. Narayan Rao, Congress MLA who succumbed to Covid September 2020, due to which bypolls in Basvakalyana was necessitated. "Rao was a staunch follower of Ambedkarite-Phule ideology and with his help I had won my MLA election from Bidar in 1994 and I reciprocated to him. Besdies, he was never against promoting Muslim leadership at the grassroot level. But, now am not sure, whether the same will be followed by his family members. Therefore, I am supporting Quadri, though, he has not approached me," he wrote.

Hashmi is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters.