Former Chhattisgarh CM Ajit Jogi passes away

Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi passed away on Friday afternoon after suffering two cardiac arrests at a private hospital in Raipur.

The former Chhattisgarh CM was admitted to the hospital on May 9 after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home. Jogi had since then remained critical and was on ventilator support. He had suffered a cardiac arrest on Wednesday night as well.

Jogi had served as the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh from November 2000 to November 2003 in the then Congress government, after the state came into existence.

Jogi parted ways with the Congress in 2016 after he and his son got embroiled in a controversy over a by-election. Later, he quit the Congress and formed Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J).

In 2004, Ajit Jogi was critically injured when he was on a campaign tour of Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituency. The vehicle he was travelling in hit a tree in the wee hours.

The 58-year-old leader was on his way to Deobhang from Rajim for an early morning meeting for the April 20 poll in which Jogi is pitted against the Bharatiya Janata Party's V C Shukla.

Congress' Chhattisgarh unit general secretary Mehttar Lal Sahu, who was accompanying Jogi, and the driver of the car were also critically injured in the accident, which took place at Gariabandh, about 130km from Raipur. Sahu and the driver suffered serious head injuries and were admitted to the ICU of MMI.