Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, May 11: Pandit Sukh Ram, a veteran Congress leader and former Union Telecom Minister, died at the age of 94.
On May 7, Sukh Ram was admitted to the AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) in Delhi. Sukh Ram’s grandson Aashray Sharma, a Himachal Pradesh Congress leader, in a Facebook post late last night wrote, “Adieu Grandfather, Now the phone will not ring (Alvida Dadajee, Abhi Nahi Bajegee Phone Ki Ghanti).”
The time of death, however, was not mentioned in the post.
On May 4, Sukh Ram suffered a brain stroke near Manali and was admitted to the regional hospital in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. On Saturday, he was rushed to AIIMS in Delhi for treatment. On May 7, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur supplied a state chopper to transport Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to Delhi.
Notably, from 1993 to 1996, Sukh Ram served as the Union Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge). He represented Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi constituency in the Lok Sabha.
He was elected to the Vidhan Sabha five times and the Lok Sabha three times. He was convicted to five years in jail in 2011 for corruption while serving as Minister of Communications in 1996.