Former Rajya Sabha member and general secretary of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), D.P. Tripathi passed away, following prolonged illness, on Thursday. He was 64.

Tweeting her condolences, NCP's Supriya Sule said, "Deeply Saddened to hear about the demise of Shri D.P Tripathi Ji. He was the General Secretary of @NCPspeaks, and a guide and mentor to all of us. We will miss his wise counsel and guidance which he had given us from the day NCP was established."

A senior leader of the NCP, Tripathi had begun his political career at an early age and was associated with the Indian National Congress for long. Tripathi later left the Congress to join the NCP, where he was a trusted confidante of party supremo Sharad Pawar.IANS