Former minister and senior JDS leader K Amarnath Shetty passed away on Monday in Mangaluru at a private hospital. He was 80. He was admitted to AJ hospital following a brief illness. A few years ago he had undergone plastic surgery under his feet. Shetty who entered electoral politics in 1965, became the MLA in 1983 from Moodbidri-Mulky constituency. In 1984, he was made minister for tourism and religious endowment under Ramakrishna Hegde’s government.