Vajpayee condoles Digvijay Singh's death

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Thursday condoled the death of Lok Sabha MP from Bihar and former union minister Digvijay Singh in a hospital in London.

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Thursday condoled the death of Lok Sabha MP from Bihar and former union minister Digvijay Singh in a hospital in London.

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Vajpayee said the former union minister's sudden death came as a shock for him.

In his condolence message, he said : "He (Digvijay Singh) was an enterprising, hardworking, energetic and youthful leader."

Digvijay Singh, 54, died at the St. Thomas Hospital in London. He is survived by his wife Putul Kumari and two daughters. He was undergoing treatment for brain haemorrhage.

"Every death is sad. But a sudden death that too at that age is very, very sad. This was not the time for him to go," he said, adding that the leader was firm on his decisions.

"He believed in hard work and accepted challenges. He did a good job as a minister in our NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government and left his mark," he said.

Digvijay Singh, a former Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader, won the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Banka constituency as an independent candidate.

He was educated at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Tokyo University.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condoled his death, describing him as "a widely respected leader".

Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj also condoled his death