Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief and former Union minister Chaudhary Ajit Singh died due to Covid-19 on Thursday.
The 82-year-old RLD chief Ajit Singh was admitted to a private hospital in Gurugram after his health deteriorated due to a lung infection on Tuesday. In April, Ajit Singh had tested positive for the Covid-19. His condition worsened and passed away on Thursday.
Jayant Chaudhary, the son of Ajit Singh took to Twitter to announce the death of his father. “Chaudhary Ajit Singh ji was diagnosed as Covid positive on April 20. He battled his condition till the very end and breathed his last today morning,” Jayant Chaudhary said.
— Jayant Chaudhary (@jayantrld) May 6, 2021
The seven-time MP from Baghpat – Ajit Singh was the son of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh. Prior to his political career, Ajit Singh, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, had worked in the United States before returning to the country to start his political career.
Ajit Singh was first elected to Rajya Sabha in 1986. Later, he represented the Baghpat constituency seven times in Lok Sabha. His party RLD has a strong influence in Jat-dominated western Uttar Pradesh.
Ajit Singh also worked as the Union Minister of Industry in the VP Singh government. Later, he joined the PV Narasimha Rao government but resigned from the Congress in 1996. Ajit Singh then formed RLD and joined the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government as Agriculture Minister in 2001. He was part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government till May 2003. He also served as the Union Minister of Civil Aviation.
Recently, Ajit Singh came into prominence after he had extended his support to the so-called farmer protests in the country. His party RLD had supported violent agitators who had not only blocked national highways to Delhi but also stormed into the national capital to unleash riots on Republic Day.
