Congress veteran Ahmed Patel dies at 71 after multiple-organ failure

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel passed away at a hospital in New Delhi in the early hours of Wednesday. The announcement of his demise was made by his son Faisal Patel.

In a statement on Twitter, his son Faisal Patel said that Ahmed Patel passed away at 3:30 am on November 25. "After testing positive for Covid-19 around a month back, his health worsened further due to multiple organ failures," he said.

The veteran Congress leader had announced that he had contracted the virus on October 1, after which he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Medanta Hospital in Haryana's Gurugram on November 15.

An eight-time parliamentarian, Ahmed Patel served three terms in the Lok Sabha and five terms in the Rajya Sabha. He was appointed as the Treasurer of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in August 2018.

He was the political secretary to the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and was widely credited with the party's performance in the 2004 and 2009 General elections.