Kazi Zafar Ahmed, the chairman of a faction of Jatiya Party, passed away at United Hospital in the capital on Thursday morning.

The 76-year-old leader had been taken to hospital as he felt cardiac problems. Later, Zafar breathed his last around 7:30am, said his personal assistant Golam Mostafa.

Zafar left behind his wife, three daughters and a host of relatives to mourn his death.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia expressed deep shock at his death.

bdnews24.com adds, Kazi Zafar, a Jatiya Party (JP) leader for over three decades and a former prime minister in Ershad's government from 1989 to 1990, had been expelled by Chairman HM Ershad in November 2013.

He then formed a party of the same name, with a break-away faction, and joined the BNP-led alliance in January 2014.

Kazi Zafar entered public life during the pre-independence turmoil in the erstwhile East Pakistan in the 1960s as a Maoist leader, attracting a large following.

He then worked with the BNP’s General Ziaur Rahman and they formed a party named People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

However, Gen Zia formed a united front and dissolved Kazi Zafar's party. He remained with Zia for sometime as the education minister.

After BNP founder Zia’s 1981 assassination, then the army chief Ershad declared martial law and assumed state power.

Ershad later formed the Jatiya Party, and Kazi Zafar joined, remaining in it until his expulsion in November 2013.

TF