Harjiram Burdak passes away

Former Rajasthan Agriculture minister Harjiram Burdak died in Jaipur on Friday. 84-year-old Burdak, ill for some time and admitted to SMS hospital, breathed his last past midnight. Burdak, a six-time MLA, was a cabinet minister in Ashok Gehlot government and had contested the recently held Assembly elections but was defeated by BJP candidate Manohar Singh. His last rites will be performed at his ancestral village Bharnawa in Ladnu town in Nagaur district later in the day. Burdak, son of a farmer who drew inspirations from Nehru, started his political career when he was elected sarpanch of his village Barnava in Ladnu tehsil of Nagaur district and later sarpanch of Sandas village.

After its poll rout, Congress suffered the second jolt in Rajasthan on Friday with the death of former agriculture minister Harji Ram Burdak following the demise of the Shekhawati region patriarch Sis Ram Ola on sunday. Both the leaders were in their eighties and tall figures in their respective regions. Burdak was a Jat leader of Nagaur district from where the late Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru launched the panchayati raj system in the country. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot have expressed grief over the death of Burdak. Raje and Gehlot in their separate statements said that services of Burdak in the field of agriculture and as a minister would always be remembered.