Former minister of state for external affairs R L Bhatia dies of Covid

AMRITSAR: Former minister of state for external affairs Raghunandan Lal Bhatia who was elected Member of Parliament for six times from Amritsar parliamentary constituency died of Covid-19 on Saturday morning. 100-year-old Bhatia also served as the governor of Kerala and Bihar.
Bhatia’s winning spree came to an end after BJP announced cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who used to call himself ‘Vajpayee sab da siphai” (soldier of Vajpayee), as its candidate from Amritsar parliamentary constituency and fielded him against Bhatia, also known as an old horse of Congress party, in 2004. Interestingly Bhatia gave his blessings to his opponent candidate (Sidhu) before the elections.
Bhatia remained governor of Kerala from June 23, 2004 to July 10, 2008 and governor of Bihar from July 11, 2008 to June 28, 2009.
While expressing grief over the death of Bhatia senior Congress leader Jugal Kishore informed that Bhatia was a politician of clean image and would have turned 101 on July 3.