Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon passed away on Tuesday after a prolonged illness. He was 85.
Tandon was in hospital for the past few weeks. According to his son Ashutosh Tandon, he died at 5.35 am. His last rites will be performed at Gulala Ghat in Lucknow at 5.35 pm today. Tandon was admitted to the hospital after complaining of breathing problems, difficulty in urination and fever. He has been undergoing treatment at the hospital since June 11.
Lalji Tandon is considered as one of the tallest BJP leaders in Uttar Pradesh but. He was born in Chowk village in Lucknow on April 12, 1935 to Shivnarayan Tandon and Annpurna Devi. He graduated from Kalicharan Degree College. Tandon married Krishna Tandon on 26 February 1958, with whom he had three sons. He began his political journey as a member of the Legislative Council, went on to become a minister and then Member of Parliament before he was appointed Governor in Bihar and then Madhya Pradesh.
Tandon had been a member of Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) for two terms, 1978–84 and remained the Leader of House, of the Council, 1990–96. Subsequently, he remained a member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for three terms, 1996–2009, and remained the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, 2003–07. He had also served as Urban Development minister in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet under Mayawati (in the BSP-BJP combine), and also in the Kalyan Singh ministry earlier.
In May 2009, he was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from Lucknow by a margin over 40,000 votes over Rita Bahuguna Joshi of Indian National Congress. The seat was earlier held by former BJP President Atal Bihari Vajpayee since 1991 for four consecutive terms. Despite an enormous electoral spending, Akhilesh Das of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) polled third, trailing by 70 thousand votes.
As a Governor of Bihar, Tandon was praised for streamlining academic activities of the state universities. On 20 July 2019, Tandon was appointed as the 22nd Governor of Madhya Pradesh, replacing Anandiben Patel.