Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday expressed his grief over the demise of his BJP veteran Sunderlal Patwa, saying he was the one who changed the state politics.
"The one who changed the politics of Madhya Pradesh, the one without whom one cannot imagine the politics of Madhya Pradesh, the one who was respected by all parties, Patwa ji is not with us anymore. He was absolutely fine at night but when he did not wake up till late in the morning, he was rushed to the hospital. The doctors there told us that he had passed away," Chouhan told ANI.
The former chief minister's last rites will be performed today at 4 p.m. The state will also be observing three days of mourning.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh took to his Twitter handle to express his grief to the bereaved family.
"Extremely sad by the news of demise of Sunderlal ji Patwa. He was an arduous politician of MP. The state has suffered an irreparable loss," he tweeted.
"I pay my tributes to him. May God provide rest to his soul and his family the strength to deal with this crisis," he wrote further.
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Patwa died at the age of 92 after suffering a heart attack.
Patwa was the chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh twice, from January 20, 1980 to February 17, 1980 as member of Janata Party, and from March 5, 1990 to December 15, 1992 as leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He began his political career with Jana Sangh, which merged with Janata Party in 1977.
Later, members owing allegiance to Jana Sangh's Hindutva ideology broke away from Janata Party in 1980 to form Bharatiya Janata Party.