Congress leader Ram Niwas Mirdha dead

Senior Congress leader Ram Niwas Mirdha, who had held key ministerial portfolios including external affairs and communication, died in New Delhi on Friday following multiple organ failure.

Senior Congress leader Ram Niwas Mirdha, who had held key ministerial portfolios including external affairs and communication, died in New Delhi on Friday following multiple organ failure.

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87-year-old Mirdha, who was also former Speaker of Rajasthan Assembly, 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 tomorrow.

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.

He was elected to the Rajasthan assembly thrice and was the Speaker of the Assembly from 1957 to 1967. Earlier, as a minister in the state government, he had held various portfolios including agriculture, irrigation and transport.

AICC media department in-charge Janardan Dwivedi said the passing away of a cultured person like Mirdha was a loss that cannot be compensated.