BJP MP Mahant Chand Nath on Sunday passed away after a prolonged illness at a private hospital here while undergoing treatment. He was 61.

Nath, who headed Baba Mastnath Math in Haryana’s Rohtak, was suffering from throat cancer and other ailments. He had been unwell for nearly two and a half years now. He passed away around midnight during his treatment.

Born on June 21, 1956, in Begampur in Delhi, Nath completed his Bachelor in Arts (Hindi) from Hindu College of Delhi University in 1976. In 1978, he took deeksha from Mahant Shreyonath, and became associated with the Baba Mastnath Math in Asthal Bohar in Rohtak.

Over the years, he helped establish several colleges in Rohtak, which came under the umbrella of Baba Mastnath Group of Institutions.

Subsequently, from 2012-2013 academic session, the group of institutions acquired the status of a university from Haryana Government and Nath became its Chancellor.

Associated with the BJP, Nath was elected as an MlA in Rajasthan in 2004. Ten years later, he was elected as a lok Sabha MP from Alwar, defeating sitting member and former Union Minister Jitendra Singh, of the Congress, in the 2014 general elections.

He was a member of Standing Committee on Human Resource Development and a member of Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

He also wrote a few books on Mastnath Math and Nath sect.

According to his profile on the lok Sabha website, Nath ran five charitable hospitals in Rohtak, Haryana, and Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, as well as five gaushalas. Nath was unmarried.

Nath’s death is another setback to BJP in Rajasthan, which lost Ajmer MP Sanwar lal Jat to illness and Mandalgarh MlA Kirti Kumari to swine flu last month.