Lucknow, Aug 16 (IANS): UP minister Chetan Chauhan passed away on Sunday due to kidney failure after he tested positive for coronavirus.

He died at Medanta hospital in Gurugram, where he had been shifted after his condition deteriorated.

Chauhan, 73, is the second minister of the Yogi Adityanath government to have succumbed to coronavirus this month.

On August 2, UP minister Kamal Rani Varun had also died due to the infectious disease.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed grief at the demise of the minister who was also a well-known cricketer.

Several ministers, including Siddhartha Nath Singh, Mohsin Raza, and Rajendra Pratap Singh, have expressed their condolences to the bereaved family.

Chauhan was born in Uttar Pradesh and elected to the state assembly from Naugawan in Amroha district.

A well-known cricketer before he joined politics, he played 40 Tests between 1969 and 1978 and scored 2,084 runs at an average of 31.57 with 97 being his highest score. He also played in seven ODIs, scoring 153 runs from them.

He and Sunil Gavaskar formed a successful opening partnership, scoring over 3,000 runs together with 10 century stands in numerous Tests in the 1970s.

Chauhan played Ranji Trophy for Maharashtra and Delhi and was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 1981.