Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday expressed grief over the passing away of Union minister Ananth Kumar.

"Saddened at the passing away of Ananth Kumar ji, six-time MP and Union Cabinet minister. My heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and supporters," Banerjee wrote in her Twitter handle this morning.

Union parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar died at a private hospital in Bengaluru in the early hours of Monday after battling lung cancer for several months, hospital authorities said.

The last rites would be performed on Tuesday afternoon, Karnataka BJP said. The mortal remains of Kumar would be placed at his residence in Basavanagudifor the entire day today, state BJP General Secretary N Ravi Kumar said in a statement.

He said, by 8 AM on Tuesday, Kumar's mortal remains would be taken to Jagannath Bhavan, BJP state office at Malleshwaram, where arrangements would be made for party workers and his followers to pay their last respects.

Kumar's body would then be taken to National College Ground in the city for the public to pay their respects, and the last rites would be performed at 1 PM at Chamarajapete crematorium, the statement added.

Kumar, 59, had come back to Bengaluru only recently after undergoing treatment in the US and Britain.