Chhattisgarh’s first CM Ajit Jogi dies at 74
■ ‘Never-say-die’ politician was in coma since May 9
Ajit Pramod Kumar Jogi, whose never-saydie spirit saw him through many controversies in his three-andhalf-decade-long political career, passed away in Raipur on Friday. He was 74 and is survived by wife Renu and son Amit. He was admitted to a private hospital in Raipur after a cardiac arrest on May 9 and was in a comatose till he breathed his last on Friday afternoon.
He died at 3.30 pm after he suffered from two cardiac arrests in the last 48 hours.
Like a colossus, the bureaucrat-turnedpolitician strode Chhattisgarh’s political arena for over two decades in spite of many careerthreatening controversies he had courted during the period.
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Ajit Pramod Kumar Jogi, whose never-say-die spirit saw him through many controversies in his threeand-half-decade-long political career, passed away in Raipur on Friday. He was 74 and is survived by wife Renu and son Amit.
He was admitted to a private hospital in Raipur after a cardiac arrest on May 9 and was in a comatose till he breathed his last on Friday afternoon.
The end for the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh came at 3.30 pm after he suffered from two cardiac arrests in the last 48 hours.
Like a colossus, the bureaucrat-turned-politician strode Chhattisgarh’s political arena for over two decades in spite of many career-threatening controversies he had courted during the period. He had raced past mighty V.C. Shukla, member of first political dynasty of undivided Madhya Pradesh, to become the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh, after the state was carved out of MP on November 1, 2000. He served in the post till November 2003.
Late Shukla, who suffered fatal bullet injuries during a Maoist ambush on a convoy of Congress in Bastar in Chhattisgarh in May 2013, was a strong contender for the post of chief minister of Chhattisgarh after the state came into being.
Jogi had literally buried Shukla into political oblivion by ensuring that he was denied Rajya Sabha ticket from Congress in 2002 and then dealing him a jolt by defeating him in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from Mahasamund in Chhattisgarh, in spite of meeting a life-threatening road accident that made him wheelchair-borne for rest of life, during electioneering.
Jogi, a gold medallist in engineering degree, was first selected in Indian Police Service and then Indian Administrative Service. He had joined Congress in 1986. He parted ways with the Congress on a bitter note in 2016 after he and his son got embroiled in a controversy over alleged fixing of the assembly by-election held for the Antagarh seat in Kanker district in 2014.
Several dignitaries including Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled Jogi’s death. “Shri Ajit Jogi Ji was passionate about public service. This passion made him work hard as a bureaucrat and as a political leader. He strived to bring a positive change in the lives of the poor, especially tribal communities. Saddened by his demise. Condolences to his family. RIP”, Mr Modi tweeted.