Sushma Swaraj: Former Minister of External Affairs and veteran BJP leader Sushma Swaraj passed away on August 6, 2019, after suffering a cardiac arrest. Swaraj was 67 years old and is survived by her husband and daughter. A lawyer by profession, Swaraj became the country's youngest Cabinet minister in Haryana government at 25. Swaraj, who was the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi was elected seven times as a Member of Parliament and three times as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. Swaraj also served as the Minister of External Affairs in the first Narendra Modi-led government.
Manohar Parrikar: Sixty-three-year-old Manohar Parrikar, former CM of Goa and BJP leader, who was battling a pancreatic ailment since a year, breathed his last at his residence on March 17, 2019. Parrikar is survived by two sons and their families. A four-time Chief Minister of Goa, Parrikar took charge as the Chief Minister on March 14, 2017, and held the office till his end. He had previously served as the Chief Minister of the state from 2000 to 2002, 2002 to 2005 and from 2012 to 2014. He also served as the Defence Minister under the Narendra Modi government for a short period of time.
Pramod Mahajan: Pramod Mahajan died at the age of 56 under tragic circumstances in 2006. Pramod Mahajan battled for his life for 13 days before succumbing to his injuries. He was one of the brightest young faces in BJP and was also the brains behind BJP's 2004 India Shining campaign, which turned out to be a failure. He contested two Loksabha elections from Mumbai in 1996, which he won and in 1998 that ended in his defeat.
Vilasrao Deshmukh: The Maharashtra stalwart was the Union Minister for Science and Technology Vilasrao Deshmukh in the UPA II government, when he succumbed to a liver ailment at the age of 67, unable to get a donor in time. Tragically, an attempt to harvest liver from a brain-dead donor failed as the man died before doctors could operate on him. Deshmukh was a two-time Maharashtra chief minister, from 1999 to 2003 and from 2004 to 2008. Vilasrao Deshmukh was named in few controversies including the Adarsh housing society scam, and irregularities in land allotment to a filmmaker.
Sanjay Gandhi: Only 33, Sanjay Gandhi the son of India's former prime minister Indira Gandhi died in an air crash in 1980, near Safdarjung Airport in New Delhi. He was flying the aircraft himself, and lost control, leading to the crash and his untimely death. Until the tragedy, Gandhi was widely tipped to succeed his mother Indira as Congress head. A controversial figure, often criticised for his role in Emergency, Gandhi was made the Congress General Secretary just a month before his death.
Gopinath Munde: Just days after taking oath as Union Minister of Rural Development in the Narendra Modi government, Gopinath Munde was killed in a road accident. Munde's tenure as the opposition leader in the Maharashtra assembly from 1992-95 was one of the most volatile period in state politics. He went on to become the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra (1995-1999). Munde was among the candidates in running for the CM's post, if the Sena-BJP alliance had come into power in Maharashtra.
Rajesh Pilot: The senior Congress leader Rajesh Pilot was only 55 when he perished in a road accident in 2000. The Indian Air Force pilot-turned politician got injured critically after a jeep being driven by him collided head-on with a State transport bus near his Lok Sabha constituency, Dausa, in Rajasthan. Pilot was a Minister of State for Home, Communications and Surface Transport in the P. V. Narasimha Rao Government, and also among the Union Ministers in the Rajiv Gandhi government.
Madhavrao Scindia: Another big name from Congress, Madhavrao Scindia was killed in an air crash in 2001 on the outskirts of Mainpuri district in UP. Scindia excelled as Railways Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi govt, bringing in modernisation in Indian Railways. Under the P. V. Narasimha Rao government, he was the Minister for Civil Aviation and, later, the HRD minister. In addition, Scindia was also the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India from 1990 to 1993. He was 56 at the time of his death.
GMC Balayogi: The TDP leader GMC Balayogi died at the age of 50 in 2002 after the Bell 206 helicopter he was travelling in crashed in Kaikalur in Andhra Pradesh. Balayogi is most remembered as the Speaker of the 12th and 13th Lok Sabha.
Dr YS Rajashekhara Reddy: Dr YS Rajashekhara Reddy was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in 2009 when he died in a helicopter crash under mysterious circumstances aged 60. Reddy's Bell 430 helicopter suddenly went missing while passing through, Nallamala, and debris of the same were located the next morning on top of Rudrakonda Hill, 40 nautical miles from Kurnool. Reddy was elected to the Lok Sabha four times from the Kadapa constituency, and had two terms as Andhra Pradesh CM.
Sahib Singh Verma: The former Delhi chief minister died Sahib Singh Verma after his car collided with a truck on the Jaipur-Delhi Highway in 2007. The 64-year-old was a former senior vice-president of the BJP, and went on to serve as the Labour Minister in the Vajpayee government in 2002.
Mahendra Karma: Mahendra Karma was among the 30 killed in a Maoist attack on a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh in 2013. Karma was the Leader of the Opposition in the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha from 2004 to 2008. He was also instrumental in organising the Salwa Judum movement against Maoists in Chhattisgarh. Additionally, Karma was also a Minister of Industry and Commerce in the Ajit Jogi cabinet from 2000 to 2004.
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