Patna: Satish Prasad Singh, a former Bihar chief minister, died of Covid-19 at a New Delhi hospital on Monday, five days after his wife succumbed to the infection there. He was 90.
Singh was the CM for three days in 1968 when he headed a coalition government of then newly formed Shoshit Samaj Dal and the Congress. He had succeeded Mahamaya Prasad Sinha, the first non-Congress CM, of Samyukta Vidhayak Dal.
Singh was ousted after BP Mandal of the Mandal Commission fame revolted and formed Shoshit Dal. Mandal took over from Singh but could keep the post with him for 30 days since he too faced rebellion that resulted in mid-term polls.
In those days, Singh had produced, directed and acted as the hero in a film ‘Jogi aur Jawani’.
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Talking to this correspondent in 2015, Singh had recalled his days as the CM and said the first thing he did after taking oath was to rush to the Khadi Bhawan near Gandhi Maidan in Patna to buy garments “suitable” for his post.
He joined the Congress in 1980 and was elected to the Lok Sabha. He moved to the BJP in 2013 but quit later alleging poor representation of Kushwahas in assembly poll ticket distribution.
His daughter Suchitra Sinha was a minister in Nitish Kumar cabinet and son-in-law Nagmani was a Union minister of state in the Vajpayee government.
