India, Sept. 13 -- Senior politician, socialist thinker and senior Congress leader Ratnakar Mahajan passed away in Pune early on Saturday, bringing to an end a long political career that spanned the Emergency, the Janata movement, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The final rites on Mahajan, 80, who breathed his last late on Friday, were performed at Vaikunth crematorium on Saturday afternoon, his family members said.

Mahajan, who was imprisoned during the Emergency, was among Maharashtra's prominent socialist voices and remained active in public life for decades. He had also served as executive chairman of the Maharashtra State Planning Board and later held important organisational esponsibilities in the Congress, ...