H Vasanthakumar, who was the Member of Parliament from Kanyakumari passed away last Friday on the 28th of August. The 70-year-old businessman and politician had been admitted to a private hospital in Chennai, after testing positive for COVID-19, on August 10th. Tt was reported that his health condition had turned critical and that he was being closely monitored by the doctors. Unfortunately, it came to light just a short while back that he has breathed his last, after succumbing to COVID related complications. He had been in critical care at Chennai's Apollo Hospitals and had been on ECMO and ventilator as the COVID had lead to severe pneumonia and lung issues. However, he had then tested negative for COVID but had succumbed to the complications that arose from it. Vasanthakumar’s son Vijay Vasanth has now opened up about his father for the first time after his death - “50 years back, when he was 20, my father came to chennai carrying only dreams. 50 years later, all his dreams realised, he returned to his village as wholesome human to be laid to rest. Thanks for your prayers, tributes & condolences. #missyoudad #Vasanthakumar.” 
 
Having started his career as a salesman, Harikrishnan Vasanthakumar went on to start a retail home appliance shop which has now gone on to become one of the biggest retail home appliance chains not only in Tamil Nadu but in Bengaluru and Puducherry as well. The founder of Vasanth & Co., entered politics and won the assembly elections from the Nanguneri constituency in 2006. He reprised his victory in the assembly elections of 2016 also, from the same constituency! Mr. Vasanthakumar then contested in the Parliamentary elections of 2019 from Kanyakumari and became a Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha, by defeating the incumbent Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan by a huge margin. H Vasanthakumar was also the founder and Managing Director of the Tamil satellite TV channel Vasanth TV. He is survived by his wife, sons Vijay Vasanth & Vinothkumar and daughter Malar. Vijay Vasanth is a well known actor in Kollywood while Vinothkumar has also forayed into film production.