Hours after he was dropped from the Congress Working Committee and made a permanent invitee in a party reshuffle, veteran leader Arjun Singh, who had a long and chequered career as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and as Union Minister, died here today. He was 81.
Singh passed away at the AIIMS where he had been admitted for over a month and was being treated for medical complications. AIIMS spokesperson Dr Y K Gupta said, “Singh had a heart attack around 5.15 pm. Despite intensive efforts at resuscitation for an hour, he could not be saved.”
Singh is survived by his wife Saroj Singh, his two sons, Abhimanyu and Ajay, and daughter Veena Singh. Ajay Singh, who is a Congress MLA, said his father’s cremation would take place on Sunday in Churhat in Madhya Pradesh.
President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and BJP leader L K Advani condoled the death of Singh.
A loyalist of the Gandhi family, Singh was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh between 1980 and 1985 and was made Governor of Punjab just a day after he took oath as Chief Minister for the second time in the state.
He became Governor at the height of militancy and helped Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi reach an accord with Akali Dal leader Sant Harchand Singh Longowal.
He also held important portfolios at the Centre as Commerce and Communication Minister in the Eighties and HRD Minister under Narasimha Rao in the Nineties. A leader who swore by secular ideals, Singh turned against Rao in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. He became HRD minister in the first UPA government in 2004.
RIP Arjun Singh ji .. :-(
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