Vashram Khorani, the BJP legislator from Chotila in Surendranagar district, died of heart attack on Tuesday. Elected in the September by-elections, Khorani was also a Chotila taluka panchayat president for five years.

Khorani (49) was about to leave for Gandhinagar in the morning when he suffered a severe heart attack. He was rushed to Dhakan Hospital in Rajkot around 10 am where doctors declared him dead on arrival. Khorani is survived by his wife and five children.

A Koli leader who emerged from the grassroots level to become an MLA, Khorani contested the by-elections for Chotila in September after the seat went vacant following the death of Congress MLA Popat Jinjaria. Jinjaria had suffered a heart attack in 2008 as well.

Khorani’s personal assistant Anil Rojsera said the MLA complained of chest pain soon after they were about to leave for Gandhinagar from his native village — Lakharkan in Chotila taluka.

He was first taken to a government hospital in Chotila, where doctors on duty referred him to Dhakkan, a private hospital in Rajkot.