Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLA from Jubilee Hills, Maganti Gopinath (62), passed away at a corporate hospital in Hyderabad on Sunday morning. He had been undergoing treatment after suffering a massive heart attack on June 5.He is survived by his wife Sunitha, son Vatsalyanath, and daughters Akshata and Disira. He was cremated at the Jubilee Hills Mahaprasthanam on Sunday evening.Gopinath, who also served as president of the BRS Greater Hyderabad unit, was born in Hyderguda. He began his political career with the Telugu Desam Party in 1983. A prominent youth leader in his early years, he served as the president of the TDP’s youth wing, Telugu Yuvatha, from 1985 to 1992, and also held the post of TDP Hyderabad district president.Gopinath entered the legislative assembly for the first time in 2014, winning on a TDP ticket from Jubilee Hills. He later joined the BRS and retained his seat in the 2018 and 2023 assembly elections. In the most recent election, he defeated former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin by a margin of 16,000 votes.In his administrative journey, Gopinath worked as a director of the then Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA) from 1987 to 1989. He also served as a member of the Hyderabad district consumer forum.Chief minister A Revanth Reddy, BRS president K Chandrashekar Rao, working president KT Rama Rao, former minister T Harish Rao, and several other political leaders expressed condolences on Gopinath’s demise. Union minister G Kishan Reddy, TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud, assembly speaker G Prasada Kumar, ministers Ponnam Prabhakar and D Sridhar Babu, and several MLAs also paid their respects.With Gopinath’s passing, Telangana is set to witness another by-election within the next six months. The last bypoll in the state was held in June 2023 for the Secunderabad Cantonment seat following the death of BRS MLA Lasya Nanditha. Congress candidate Sri Ganesh won that election.