Kamal Morarka, a former Minister in the Chandra Shekhar government and ex-Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan, has passed away after a brief illness.
The 74-year-old leader, a businessman who was also a former BCCI vice president, breathed his last on Friday. He hailed from the Shekhawati area in Rajasthan.
Morarka, who was the Chairman of Morarka Organic and headed the Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) since 2012, was born in a traditional Marwari family on 18 June, 1946.
In the Chandra Shekhar government, Morarka was the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). His M R Morarka Foundation has been organising the annual Shekhawati Festival in Nawalgarh for over two decades.
Morarka had called the decision to ban Mohd Azharuddin and four others on charges of match-fixing a total sham. A member of the three-member BCCI disciplinary panel, he had skipped the meeting that took the decision against Azharuddin and others.
After the report from the CBI on match-fixing created furore, Morarka had said there was more corruption in the agency than in cricket. The BCCI had then distanced itself from his comments.