By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: BJP National VP- Spokesperson and 4th times former MP, Baijayant’Jay’ Panda was on Friday condole the death of 1st Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, veteran Ajit Jogi, who passed away at the age of 74. His son Amit Jogi made the announcement on Twitter.
“I deeply saddened with the sad demise of veteran Ajit Jogi and with the death of Ajit, Country lost a statesman,” the senior BJP leader said in a statement.
“20-year-old Chhattisgarh has lost a patriarch. Not just me, but Chhattisgarh and its citizens have lost a father,” Ajit Jodi’s son Amit Jogi posted in his tribute. Ajit Jogi suffered two cardiac arrests over the past week. He had been in hospital for nearly three weeks.
The former Congress leader became the first Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh when the state was born in 2000.He exited the Congress in 2016 and went on to form the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J).
In 1986, Jogi entered the Rajya Sabha, where he remained for two terms till 1998. In 1998, he contested the Lok Sabha elections from Raigarh and won, but he lost a year later from Shahdol.
When Chhattisgarh was formed in 2000, the Congress which had 48 out of the 90 seats, was keen on nominating a tribal as Chief Minister.
