Veteran Congress MLA, ex-minister Sujan Singh Pathania dies at 77

SHIMLA: Senior Congress leader and sitting legislator in Himachal Pradesh Sujan Singh Pathania passed away on Friday morning, a party leader said.

He was 77.

He was a former minister and sitting legislator from Fatehpur Assembly constituency in Kangra district.

He died after a prolonged illness on Friday and will be cremated on Saturday.

Born on September 22, 1943 in Lahore (Pakistan), Pathania was elected seven times as an MLA.

Having served in the HP Forest Department as a range officer, he resigned from service to join Janata Party in 1977 and later became a member of the Congress party in 1980.

Pathania was elected to the state Assembly in 1977; re-elected in 1990, 1993, 2003 November, 2009 (by-election) from Jawali Assembly constituency and in 2012 and 2017 from Fatehpur Assembly constituency.

Before delimitation in 2007, Fatehpur Assembly Constituency was known as Jawali.

Pathania remained MPP and Power Minister with additional charge of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Agriculture from December 2012 to December 20, 2017.