Senior Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Union Minister Raghunath Jha passed away late on Sunday at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. He was suffering from kidney ailment.
Raghunath Jha, 78, was Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise in the UPA government led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
He was elected Member of Parliament twice from Gopalgunj and Bettiah Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar and was also six-time legislator from Sheohar Assembly constituency of the State.
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His political career included stints with several different political parties such as the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Socialist Party and the Samajwadi party.
Mr. Jha was also one of the three prominent chief ministerial candidates in Bihar after the 1990 Assembly polls but Lalu Prasad succeeded in his bid to lead the State’s first Janata Dal government.
Mr. Jha’s name had recently hit headlines as one of those close leaders and party workers who had donated land to the family of RJD chief Lalu Prasad.
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His son Ajit Jha too was an MLA from Sheohar constituency.
The former Minister’s body will reach Patna in the afternoon and the last rites will be performed at his village in Sheohar district.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, RJD leaders Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and others have expressed their grief and sorrow over death of Mr. Jha.
“For us, the demise of Raghunath Chacha (uncle) is irreparable…we express our deepest condolences at his death…I’m in Ranchi and will let our party leader Lalu Prasad know about Jha chacha ’s death,” Mr. Tejashwi Yadav said.