BJP stalwart, Sushma Swaral passes away at age 67
NEW DELHI In a shocking development, former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj passed away on Tuesday after getting admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi following a massive cardiac arrest. She was 67.
In the 2019 general elections, Sushma Swaraj decided not to contest due to health reasons as she was recovering from a kidney transplant that she underwent at AIIMS on April 2016.
According to reports, she was admitted to the Emergency ward and was in a very critical condition. Several Union ministers, including Nitin Gadkari, Harsh Vardhan and SS Ahluwalia, rushed to AIIMS.
Three hours ago, she congratulated the central government for its historic decision to abrogate Article 370. “Narendra Modi ji – Thank you Prime Minister. Thank you very much. I was waiting to see this day in my lifetime,” she said in her tweet,
The 67-year-old had not been keeping well lately, which is why she had not contested the recently held Lok Sabha election and opted out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new government.
Earlier this evening, Ms Swaraj had tweeted congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation bill in parliament.
The foreign minister — loved as much for her quick response to distress messages on Twitter as for her mellow sense of humour- had moved out of her official residence in June.
The same month, she had tweeted to dispel rumours that she had been appointed Governor of Andhra Pradesh. Her clarification came after Union Minister Harsh Vardhan triggered speculation when he congratulated her in a tweet.
A nine-time parliamentarian followed by nearly 12.8 million people on Twitter, Sushma Swaraj became the youngest minister of a state back in 1977.
She has been the chief minister of Delhi, and held the portfolios of information and broadcasting, and health in the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
“We are saddened to hear about the untimely demise of Smt Sushma Swaraj. Our condolences to her family and loved ones,” the Congress tweeted. Swaraj was one of the top performing ministers in the National Democratic Alliance government’s first term under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
She was praised a number of times by PM Modi for being an “accessible” and “hands on” Minister of External Affairs. Her proactiveness on social media, especially Twitter, made her a household name.
