Congress Leader Ram Niwas Mirdha passed away at 87

Senior Congress leader and renowned Jat Leader Shri Ram Niwas Mirdha passed away at 87 in New Delhi. He was admitted in a private hospital on January 21 after he was diagnosed with kidney infection. "He passed away at around 12:45 pm following multiple organ failure," Dr D S Rana, Consultant, Department of Nephrology of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, where Mirdha was admitted, said. Mirdha is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. His eldest son had passed away on the same date last year.
The last rites would be performed in his paternal Kuchera village in Nagour district of Rajasthan on Saturday.
The veteran Congress leader was Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha from March 1977 to April 1980 and as a union minister, he held several portfolios, including home, textile, irrigation and health and family welfare besides external affairs and communication in the rank of a minister of state. Under P V Narasimha Rao, he was elevated to cabinet rank and held the portfolio of textiles. He was elected to the Rajasthan assembly thrice. As a minister in the state government, he had held various portfolios including agriculture, irrigation and transport. Congress President Sonia Gandhi had visited the hospital on Friday morning, while the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had gone there last night. AICC media department in-charge Janardan Dwivedi said the passing away of a cultured person like Mirdha was a loss that cannot be compensated.