প্রয়াত দিল্লীর প্রাক্তন মুখ্যমন্ত্রী ও বিজেপি নেতা মদন লাল খুরানা
Ex-Delhi CM & BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana dies at 82

October 28: Former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana died at his residence in West Delhi’s Kirti Nagar due to old age-related complications on Saturday night. He was 82 and had been unwell for a while.

He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters. One of Khurana’s sons had died last month. His son Harish Khurana, a spokesperson in the Delhi BJP, said the veteran leader passed away at around 11 pm on Saturday.

The BJP leader was a four-time parliamentarian and Chief Minister of Delhi from 1993 to 1996. He served as the Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and also briefly as the governor of Rajasthan in 2004. Khurana was the first CM to serve Delhi after the state legislative assembly was reinstated through the 69th Constitution Amendment Act, 1991.

He also served as the Governor of Rajasthan in 2006. The BJP had expelled Khurana following his criticism of L K Advani’s role in the 1999 Kandahar hijack issue. However, he was brought back to the party in 2008, ahead of assembly elections in Delhi. Winning ten out of eleven elections he contested in Delhi till 2003, Khurana was one of BJP’s more successful leaders whose mass appeal had translated into votes for the party.

His last rites would be held today, his family said. Delhi BJP Chief Manoj Tiwari, who paid his respects to the former chief minister at his residence, said that Khurana’s body will be kept at BJP-Delhi State Office around 12 pm for people to pay their last respects.

Several BJP leaders were among those who condoled his death on social media. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is visiting Japan, said he was anguished by Khurana’s death.

Khurana was a part of the Jana Sangh, which later became BJP. A vocal supporter of full statehood for Delhi, Khurana was a strident critic of the relationship between the Centre and state, in terms of the power that the Delhi government had.

Born on October 15, 1936, Mr Khurana suffered a brain hemorrhage about five years ago and was ailing since then.