Cong MLA Shaktawat passes away in Delhi
Two-time MLA had tested positive for Covid, was admitted to a private hospital in Delhi a month back
JAIPUR: Congress MLA from Vallabnagar in Udaipur district, Gajendra Singh Shaktawat passed away on Wednesday after a prolonged illness.
Shaktawat, 48, a two-time MLA, was admitted to a private hospital in Delhi over a month back. He was suffering from a liver infection and had tested positive for Covid-19.
He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.
He was son of former home minister and Congress stalwart Gulab Singh Shaktawat.
Gajendra Singh had served as parliamentary secretary in the previous Gehlot government.
Chief minister (CM) Ashok Gehlot, former deputy CM Sachin Pilot and other leaders expressed grief over the demise of Shaktawat.
“My deep condolences on the untimely demise of Congress MLA Gajendra Singh Shaktawat. He was ill for a long time. I was in touch with his family and Dr Shiv Sareen about his health,” Gehlot tweeted.
Pilot tweeted, “I am deeply saddened by the devastating news of the passing away of my colleague and MLA Gajendra Singh Shaktawat. He was humble and a kind soul, always dedicated towards the development of his constituency. My heartfelt condolences to his family.”
Shaktawat was among the Congress MLAS, led by Sachin Pilot, who had revolted against the leadership of Gehlot in July 2020.
He was the third Congress MLA and fourth sitting legislator to have died, thus bringing down the assembly strength in Rajasthan to 196.
Earlier, Congress MLAS Master Bhanwar lal Meghwal (Sujangarh in Churu), Kailash Trivedi (Saharda in Bhilwara) and BJP MLA Kiran Maheshwari (Rajsamand) passed away.
Meghwal, who was the social justice and empowerment Minister, was suffering from brain haemorrhage, while Kailash Trivedi and Kiran Maheshwari died of Covid-19 infection in November.
With this, the tally in the state assembly of 200 has come down to 196 in the Congressruled state.
While the Covid-19 vaccination drive is in progress in Rajasthan, Dr Sudhir Bhandari, the principal and controller of SMS Medical College and Hospital and a member of the state advisory board for Covid-19, talks to Jaykishan Sharma about various issues facing the drive including safety concerns. Excerpts:
There has been a lot of confusion about Covaxin and Covishield. Both are equally safe and have 90 % to 95% efficacy. There has been some misconception about early launch of Covaxin. I would like to strongly tell you that launching vaccine in the third phase of trial is as good as completion of the trial because we have to protect lives rather than wait and watch. recurrence of infection. Even after the vaccination, everybody has to follow Covid protocols. Our hospital is pioneer in giving Covid plasma therapy and monoclonal antibodies to the critically ill patients with very good results. We were the first hospital to use hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and antihiv drugs Lopinavir and Ritonavir in first few patients of Covid-19 with very good outcome.