According to the AIIMS statement, a team of doctors performed CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) for around 70-80 minutes. She was declared dead at 10.50 pm.Senior BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Tuesday night. She was 67.
Swaraj, who suffered a heart attack and collapsed at her home on Jantar Mantar Road, was brought to the hospital at 9.35 pm. According to the AIIMS statement, a team of doctors performed CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) for around 70-80 minutes. She was declared dead at 10.50 pm.
Cutting across party lines, several senior leaders reached the hospital amid heavy security. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP working president J P Nadda, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad were among those present.
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“I am in shock. We have lost a very tall leader,” said Prasad, adding that he had spoken to her last week, after the triple talaq Bill was passed in Parliament. “She was an able leader, a brilliant administrator, a phenomenal orator and a wonderful teacher. I have no words,” he said. Azad said he had shared a cordial relationship with Swaraj, despite their ideological and political differences. “She was a wonderful person and a good politician. I have lost a sister today,” he said. “Sushmaji was always dedicated to the nation. She showed how to conduct oneself in politics while serving the nation to the fullest,” said Nadda.
Outside AIIMS on Tuesday night. (Express photo by Tashi Tobgyal)In 2016, Swaraj underwent a kidney transplant at AIIMS in a nearly six-hour-long surgery. She is survived by her husband Swaraj Kaushal and daughter Bansuri.
