Former Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Ajmer Sanwar Lal Jat passed away at AIIMS in New Delhi on Wednesday. The 62-year-old was in coma for a week after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Mr. Jat, who was inducted in the Union Cabinet as the Minister of State for Water Resources in 2014, was dropped in the reshuffle in July last year. He suffered the cardiac arrest while attending a meeting chaired by BJP president Amit Shah at the party headquarters here on July 22.
The BJP headquarters witnessed frantic scenes and Mr. Jat was rushed to the Sawai Man Singh Government Hospital, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit and put on ventilator. He was then shifted to AIIMS.
Mr. Jat, who was also the chairperson of the State Farmers’ Commission, had defeated Pradesh Congress president Sachin Pilot in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Earlier, he was elected MLA for five terms and served as a Minister in the Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Vasundhara Raje governments.
‘True farmers’ leader’
An urgent Cabinet meeting was convened here on Wednesday in which Chief Minister Ms. Raje and her Cabinet colleagues condoled Mr. Jat’s death, saying that he was a true farmers’ leader and his contributions to the State’s development would always be remembered. Congress leaders Mr. Pilot, Ashok Gehlot and Rameshwar Dudi also condoled his death.
His body was brought by road from Delhi to Jaipur and kept at the BJP headquarters to enable party workers and the general public to pay homage. He will be cremated at his native village, Gopalpura, in Ajmer district on Thursday.