Hyderabad, Apr 16 (IANS) The death of popular south Indian actress Soundarya in a plane crash near Bangalore Saturday has shocked the Telugu film industry as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for which she was campaigning.

The actress, who acted in 100 Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films, her brother Amarnath and two others were killed in the crash at Jakkur near Bangalore. She was coming to Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh to campaign for BJP leader and central minister Vidyasagar Rao.

Srikant, a popular actor of Telugu film industry who acted with her in many films, was shocked.

"I cannot believe she is no more. She was a nice person and known for discipline and hard work," he said.

"She was known for her dedication and commitment towards work," said another south Indian actress Nagma, who joined the Congress party Thursday.

The death of the actress also shocked the BJP and its ally the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). She had recently joined the BJP.

A pall of gloom descended on the BJP-TDP camp in Karimnagar district. A shocked Vidyasagar Rao said he was not able to come to terms with what had happened.

"It is a great tragedy for all of us," he said.

The meetings to be addressed by Soundarya were cancelled, and Vidyasagar Rao was seen making frantic calls to Bangalore to know the latest.

Born in Bangalore, the actress, whose real name was Soumya, discontinued medical education to enter the film industry. In 1992 she started acting in Telugu films and her first Telugu film was "Raitu Bharatam".

One of the top actresses of south Indian films, she had also carved a niche for herself in Telugu films.

All top actors of Telugu films wanted to work with her. She won the Nandi award, the highest-ranking award for excellence in Telugu cinema, last year.

Soundarya had also won the national award for producing the Kannada film "Dweepa" directed by Girish Kasaravalli. She had acted in the film as well.

Soundarya had acted in the Hindi film "Suryavansham" with Amitabh Bacchan.

Last year the actress married a relative and software professional in Bangalore.