Rashtriya Lok Dal chief and former Union Minister Ajit Singh passes away

Former Union Minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh passed away on Thursday at 82. Ajit Singh had been battling Covid, his son Jayant Chaudhary tweeted.

RJD chief was diagnosed with COVID on April 20, his son said in tweets. "He battled his condition till the very end and breathed his last today morning," he said.

Singh, an IIT alum, was a seven-time MP and Union Minister in the governments of VP Singh, PV Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

The son of Chaudhary Charan Singh, a former Prime Minister, Ajit Singh quit the computer industry to return to India and join politics.

Ajit Singh became a Rajya Sabha member in 1986.

He went on to win Lok Sabha elections from Baghpat in western Uttar Pradesh, a Jat-dominated constituency that remained his stronghold for decades.