Dattopant Thengadi, senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue and founder of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, died in Pune on Thursday evening, RSS sources said.

The 63-year old, who was convalescing after a minor surgery recently, fell down in the bathroom in the afternoon and was taken to the Deendayal Hospital, where he breathed his last at 1630 IST.

Thengadi was a member of the Rajya Sabha for 12 years.

He was in news for his criticism of the "anti-farmer" and "anti-labour" policies of the National Democratic Alliance government.

Thengadi also declined to accept the Padmashri offered to him by the Vajpayee government on the grounds that many people senior to him deserved higher awards.

Thengadi's funeral will be held on Friday.