Former UP guv Romesh Bhandari dead

Former Uttar Pradesh governor and former foreign secretary, Romesh Bhandari died on Saturday night at the Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon, where he was admitted since three weeks.

Former Uttar Pradesh governor and former foreign secretary, Romesh Bhandari died on Saturday night at the Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon, where he was admitted since three weeks.

HT Image

Bhandari, 85, was suffering from pancreatic cancer and died due to multiple organ failure, family sources said. He is survived by his wife and daughter.

Born on March 29, 1928 at Lahore, Bhandari had joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1950 as the Vice-Consul at the consulate in New York.

He was India's ambassador to Thailand and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East from 1971 to 1974. He was the ambassador to Iraq from 1974 to 1976.

Bhandari became the foreign secretary in February 1985, a post he held for a year. He also served as the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

He was made governor of Uttar Pradesh in July 1996 and his controversial recommendation to dismiss the Kalyan Singh-led BJP government in the state in 1997 stoked a major crisis for the central government, which was forced to restore the BJP regime.