PATNA/NEW DELHI, Sept 13:
Former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, under whose stewardship of the Rural Development Ministry the ambitious NREGA was launched by the Manmohan Singh Government, died at AIIMS in the national capital where he was admitted for treatment of post-COVID complications, a close aide said.
Singh, a socialist stalwart, was 74, and his survived by two sons and a daughter.
He had fallen critically ill on Friday night and was put on ventilator in the ICU.
Singh became breathless and developed other complications before breathing his last at 11 am, Kedar Yadav, a close associate of Singh said by phone from New Delhi.
Avadhesh Kumar Singh, the former Union Minister’s representative in Vaishali, said his mortal remains will be flown to Patna around 8 pm today.
He will be cremated with full State honours at Hasanpur Ghat on the banks of the Ganga, about 15 km from his village Shahpur in Vaishali district.
Singh, a long-time friend and associate of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, had resigned from the party on Thursday and speculation was rife that he could join Bihar’s ruling JD(U) ahead of the State Assembly polls likely in October-November.
“Since the death of Jannayak Karpoori Thakur, I stood behind you for 32 years, but not now,” he had said in his brief one-line resignation letter to Prasad, who is serving sentences in four fodder scam cases in Ranchi.
Hours later, Prasad wrote back from jail in complete disbelief.
“I don’t believe….A letter purportedly written by you is on social media. I, my family, and the RJD family that have nursed the party want you to get well soon and be amongst us,” Prasad wrote back.
“For four decades, we have together discussed political, l discuss again. You are not going anywhere, you understand,” Prasad wrote in a handwritten letter that had the stamp of the prison authority.
A galaxy of leaders including President Ramnath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD president Lalu Prasad condoled his death. (PTI)
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