JALANDHAR: Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary, who died following a cardiac arrest during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, was cremated at his native Dhaliwal village in Jalandhar district on Sunday with full state honours.
The two time MP died on Saturday following a collapse during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Punjab’s Phillaur. The doctors declared him dead on arrival in Phagwara. The yatra was suspended for 24 hours following his death.
The Congress leader was seen walking alongside Rahul Gandhi before he died of heart attack. He was 76. Rahul Gandhi paid him rich respects on Twitter as he hailed him as a “pillar of the Congress”. “He was a down-to-earth, and hardworking leader… a sincere human being and a strong pillar of the Congress family, who dedicated his life to public service from Youth Congress to Member of Parliament,” Gandhi wrote
Congress leaders including, the party’s state unit chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, MP Mohd Sadique, besides senior officials from the district administration and police attended the cremation.
Santokh Chaudhary, a prominent Dalit leader of the Doaba region, belonged to a family with a rich political family. His father Master Gurbanta Singh, a Dalit stalwart, was a seven-time MLA and also a former Punjab agriculture minister.