Hyderabad: Congress leader and former union minister G. Venkatswamy died Monday at a private hospital here following prolonged illness, party leaders said. He was 85.

Known as Kaka among his supporters, Venkatswamy served as a minister in the cabinets of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P.V. Narasimha Rao. The octogenarian leader from Telangana was elected to the Lok Sabha for seven terms, the last being in 2004.