New Delhi: Veteran Congress leader and five time minister Sat Mahajan died here Saturday morning following a brief illness.
Mahajan, 85, is survived by a son and a daughter.
He was ailing for some time and had undergone angioplasty at a hospital here on August 22. He was discharged from the hospital four days ago and was staying with his daughter.
His body is being brought to Nurpur and the cremation would be held tomorrow.
Mahajan emerged as an important leader of Kangra after its merger with Himachal in 1966.
He was elected to Himachal Assembly five times in 1977, 1982, 1982, 1993 and 2003 and served as Cabinet minister in the governments headed by former Chief Minister Ram Lal Thakur and V B Singh.
He was elected to Lok Sabha in 1996 but lost the mid-term Lok Sabha polls in 1998. He was also defeated in the assembly polls in 1990 and did not contest the 2007 Assembly polls to launch his son Ajay Mahajan in electoral politics.
Mahajan was president of Kangra District Congress Committee and served as HPCC president from 1974 to 1978. He started his career from grass root level and served as president of Nurpur Municipal committee for several years.
Chief Minister P K Dhumal, HPCC president V B Singh, BJP National Vice president Shanta Kumar, former HPCC presidents Viplov Thakur and Kaul Singh Thakur, former minister Shiv Kumar and Sukh Ram condoled the demise of the senior Congress leader, known as "Field Marshal" in party circles.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, September 01, 2012, 15:33