JIND: Congress leader and former Haryana minister Shamsher Singh Surjewala (87) passed away on Monday, after a prolonged illness.
Surjewala, father of Congress communication wing in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, breathed his last at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.
The five-time MLA was cremated at Narwana town of Jind district in the afternoon, where several leaders, including former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, state party president Kumari Selja, BJP’s former Union minister Birender Singh and many current and former MLAs, were present. Shamsher is survived by his wife, Randeep and two daughters.
In September 1957, Shamsher started his practice as a lawyer specialising in criminal law and jurisprudence before moving to grassroots politics, after getting elected as the managing director of the Sangrur Central Co-operative Bank in 1959-60 and then as chairman of panchayat samiti,
Kalayat
(now in Kaithal district) in 1961 and again in 1964.
Shamsher was elected MLA from Narwana assembly constituency in 1967, 1977, 1982 and 1991; and once from Kaithal in 2005. He shifted to Kaithal in 2005, after Narwana was declared a reserved seat.
Randeep took his legacy forward by wining the election twice from Kaithal in 2009 and 2014. Shamsher was also the former president of the
Haryana Pradesh
Congress Committee. He was a president of the Haryana Krishak Samaj and fought for the rights of farmers. Surjewala had served as a minister in the Haryana government for four times and was also elected to the Rajya Sabha once in 1993.
Congress leaders also expressed grief over former minister Shamsher Singh Surjewala’s passing away. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh said he was saddened. “My thoughts and prayers are with the family in this hour of grief,” he tweeted.
The Haryana assembly also paid tributes. Both CM Manohar Lal Khattar and Hooda described Surjewala as an able and experienced leader.
Hooda said, “My tribute to the departed soul. May God give peace to his soul and strength to the family to bear this grief.” “Deeply pained by the demise of former Haryana Congress chief, former Rajya Sabha MP and former Haryana minister Shamsher Singh Surjewala,” Kumari Selja said. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and
Madhya Pradesh
CM Kamal Nath have also condoled his demise.
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