Veteran Congress leader Madhavsinh Solanki, 93, who served as the chief minister of Gujarat four times and also as a Union Minister, passed away in Gandhinagar on Saturday morning.
The soft-spoken and mild mannered Solanki was a Congress stalwart in Gujarat. The Congress party won its last Assembly polls in the State under his leadership in 1985.
In 1985, the Congress won 149 out of the 182 Assembly seats, which still remains a record in the State’s politics.
Solanki also served as Union minister in the Rajiv Gandhi and P.V. Narsimha Rao governments at the Centre. He was India’s External Affairs Minister from June 1991 to March 1992.
However, he had to resign from the Union ministry in the wake of a controversy following his meeting with the then Foreign Minister of Switzerland in Davos over his alleged remarks on the Bofors case probe. He had reportedly delivered a letter to his Swiss counterpart to scuttle the probe into alleged kickbacks in the Bofors deal.
Before that, in 1985 too, he had to resign from the chief ministership following anti-reservation riots in the State.
A staunch loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi family, starting with late Indira Gandhi, Madhavsinh Solanki dominated Gujarat politics for decades and was regarded as the most powerful politician and mass leader in the State.
His ‘KHAM’ (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim) experiment proved to be a powerful social alliance in electoral politics, which won the Congress party landslide victories for two decades.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled Solanki’s death with a message on Twitter: “Shri Madhavsinh Solanki Ji was a formidable leader, playing a key role in Gujarat politics for decades. He will be remembered for his rich service to society. Saddened by his demise. Spoke to his son, Bharat Solanki Ji and expressed condolences. Om Shanti.”
Bharatsinh Solanki also served as a Union minister in the United Progress Alliance government, as well as the Gujarat Congress president twice.
“Beyond politics, Shri Madhavsinh Solanki Ji enjoyed reading and was passionate about culture. Whenever I would meet him or speak to him, we would discuss books and he would tell me about a new book he recently read. I will always cherish the interactions we had,” Mr. Modi added.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former party president Rahul Gandhi also condoled the death.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani declared State mourning for a day, and a State cabinet meeting held at his residence passed a resolution condoling the death of the former chief minister.
