Senior BJP leader and businessman Devender Singh Rana passed away in Delhi NCR on Thursday evening, according to his family.

He passed away late tonight at a Faridabad hospital.

Rana was not well for a long time and had lost a lot of weight in the last six months. He had undergone a procedure in the recent past also.

Rana, the founder of JamKash Vehicleades, had recently won the Assembly election from Nagrota seat in Jammu with the highest margin in history.

Prior to joining the BJP, he was affiliated with the National Conference and was close to Abdullahs.

He was a close confidant of Omar Abdullah and during his last term as Chief Minister, he was his political adviser as well. He was the Provincial President of NC till he switched over to BJP.

Originating from Doda district, Rana first gained recognition as a successful entrepreneur by founding the Jamkash Vehicleades group literally from scratch. His shift to politics began with the National Conference.

Rana was the son of former bureaucrat Rajinder Singh Rana and the brother of Union Minister Jitendra Singh. Former Chief Secretary SS Baloria was his father-in-law.

After graduating in Civil Engineering from NIT Kurukshetra, he ventured into business by founding his own automobile company.