Bangalore, Feb 14: Karnataka Higher Education Minister V.S. Acharya died here Tuesday following massive heart attack. He was 71.

"Acharya is no more. It is big shock to us and our party," Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda told reporters at Mallige Hospital in city centre to where the 71-year-old leader was rushed after he collapsed at a function nearby.

Acharya, a senior state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, leaves behind his wife, four sons and a daughter.

Acharya, a medical doctor, hailed from coastal district of Udupi, about 400 km west of Bangalore. He had been jailed for 19 months during the 1975-77 internal emergency imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi.