CHENNAI: DMK MLA J Anbazhagan died of Covid-19 while undergoing treatment in a hospital in Chennai on Wednesday, on his 62nd birthday.

The political leader was admitted to Dr Rela Institute and Medical Centre at Chromepet on June 2. "His condition deteriorated rapidly on Tuesday night. We could not bring him back," said a senior doctor.

Doctors said his condition remained critical throughout his stay. “He was on ventilator. At one point, he required lesser oxygen, and we thought he was responding well. But he had too many comorbidities,” said a doctor.

Anbazhagan represented the Chepauk constituency in Chennai in the Tamil Nadu assembly.

A three-time MLA, Anbazhagan was elected to the assembly in 2001, 2011 and 2016. He was elected from T Nagar constituency in Chennai in 2001 but moved to Chepauk in 2011 after being defeated in 2006.

A diehard party loyalist, Anbazhagan was also bold and was often referred as the second Veerapandi Arumugham (a senior leader and former DMK minister from Salem who died a few years ago) within the DMK.

Son of 'Pazhakadai' Jayaraman, an erstwhile DMK strongman from T Nagar, Anbazhagan was DMK Chennai West district secretary. He had dabbled in film distribution for some time, especially some of the big films produced by Sun Pictures.

Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami condoled Anbazhagan’s death. “It is very sad to know that DMK MLA J Anbazhagan has passed away. My condolences to his family members,” Palanisawmi tweeted.

With the death of J Anbazhagan, there are three vacancies in the assembly. All these are due to the deaths of DMK MLAs. The two others are K P P Samy (Tiruvottiyur) and S Kathavarayan (Gudiyatham). As many as nine MLAs have died since the 15th assembly was formed in 2016. They include former chief ministers M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa.