Arjun Singh dead

New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) Veteran Indian National Congress
leader Arjun Singh, who has had a long and chequered career in
Madhya Pradesh as Chief Minister and as Union Minister, died
here on Friday after a long illness.
Singh (81), who was admitted to All India Institute of
Medical Sciences (AIIMS) some days ago with chest pain and
neuro problems, complained of breathing problem around 1730
hours local time. He suffered a heart attack and breathed his
last around 1815 hours, sources said.
Incidentally, Singh was on Friday dropped from the
party's highest policy making body Congress Working Committeee
on Friday and was made a Permanent Invitee.
Singh leaves wife Saroj Kumari, two sons--Ajay Singh, a
Member of Legislative Assembly in Madhya Pradesh and Abhimanyu
--and daughter Veena.
A loyalist of the Gandhi family and considered a shrewd
strategist, Singh was Chief Minister of central Indian state
of Madhya Pradesh between 1980 and 1985 and was made Governor
of Punjab just a day after he took oath as Chief Minister for
the second time in the state.
He became Governor at the height of militancy and helped
a young Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi reach an accord with Akali
Dal leader Sant Harchand Singh Longowal which came to be known
Rajiv-Longowal peace accord.
He had also prestigious portfolios at the Centre as
Commerce and Communication Minister in the eighties and Human
Resourse Development Minister under P V Narasimha Rao in the
nineties.
A leader, who swore by secular ideals, turned against
Rao in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.
Though he did not not resign from his government immediately,
he later parted ways with Rao and formed a rebel Congress
under the leadership of N D Tiwari in 1994.
Singh, who was Vice President of the party under Rajiv
Gandhi, rejoined Congress after Rao quit as party President
and later spearheaded the campaign for the ouster of DMK
ministers in the United Front government in 1997 over the Jain
Commission report. The UF government under I K Gujral fell in
the face of the campaign.
Singh was a close adviser to Sonia Gandhi when she
decided to enter politics and became Congress President in
1998. He was said to have been behind her unsuccessful
attempt to become Prime Minister after the fall of the
Vajpayee government in April 1999.
Gandhi then staked her claim to form government on the
basis of support of 272 Members of Parliament but ultimately
she did not have the numbers.
But the political wheel turned a full circle when he
lost his proximity to Sonia Gandhi and that could have played
a part in not being able to realise his prime ministerial
ambitions.
However, as HRD minister in the first UPA government
from 2004, Singh was instrumental in championing the cause of
backward classes and piloted bills for ensuring reservation
for them in institutions of excellence.
With failing health, Singh, who started using a wheel
chair in the last years, did not not make it to the Union
Cabinet when Manmohan Singh took oath as Prime Minister for a
second time.
But his strong loyalty to the Gandhi family came into
prominence when he made a rare appearance in the Rajya Sabha
last year to apportion blame on the late Narasimha Rao to say
that Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson was allowed to go out
of the country under the instructions from the home ministry
then headed by Rao.