Lucknow, Jul 15 (IANS): Moved by an IANS story, BJP general secretary Varun Gandhi Monday said he will donate Rs.1 lakh to the family of former Jana Sangh legislator Bhagwati Prasad who died in penury last week.

The MP from from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh said he was "very moved after reading the IANS story" on the death last week.

"It is a heart rending story. I read the IANS story in a newspaper in Bhopal. Men like him are no longer born," the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said of Bhagwati Prasad.

He said it was very sad that the political class and the society at large did not come forward to help the former politician known for his honesty and integrity when he needed medical treatment.

"It is a sorry state of the times we live in," Gandhi said, adding he will visit the two-time legislator's family within the next week.

Bhagwati Prasad represented the Jana Sangh in the Uttar Pradesh assembly in 1967 and 1969. He died last week and was cremated unsung.