Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon breathed his last Tuesday morning in his hometown Lucknow. He was 85.
The BJP stalwart was admitted to Medanta Hospital in Uttar Pradesh capital on June 11 due to breathing problems and other complications. He was on a ventilator for many days.
In view of his worsening health, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel was given additional charge of Madhya Pradesh last month.
Mr Tandon was the governor of Bihar between August 2018 and July 2019 and then took over as Madhya Pradesh's Governor.
In a political career spanning several decades, Tandon has served as a councillor, a UP minister, a member of Parliament from Lucknow.
In the 1970s, he also actively participated in Jayaprakash Narayan nationwide movement against the Indira Gandhi government.
Now, his son Ashutosh Tandon, is a cabinet minister in the Yogi government.
MP Chief Minister Shivraj Chauhan and Defence minister Rajnath Singh reached Lucknow to pay homage to the leader whose last rites were performed Tuesday evening.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences: "Shri Lalji Tandon will be remembered for his untiring efforts to serve society. He played a key role in strengthening the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. He made a mark as an effective administrator, always giving importance to public welfare. Anguished by his passing away."
Two more UP leaders Ram Naresh Yadav and Ram Prakash Gupta had died while they were MP Governor, senior leaders recall.
Brother for Mayawati, instrumental in forming BSP-BJP govt
Lalji Tandon was born in Lucknow on 12 April 1935. While he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the age of 12, Tandon began his political journey only in early 1960s. He went on to become MLA and minister in UP.
In 1995, when Mayawati withdrew her support from the alliance government with Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party members confined her and launched a physical and verbal attack on her in the State guest house. It was Tandon who rescued her with the help of another BJP leader.
Later, Mr Tandon helped bring two ideological rivals BSP and BJP together. Mayawati became CM of Uttar Pradesh four times, three times (1995, 1997 and 2002) with BJP support though for brief stints.
She used to tie Rakhi to Tandon and fondly called her brother. Mayawati on Tuesday condoled his demise and remembered Mr Tandon as “A very cultured and social person.”
Vajpayee Protege’
Mr Tandon was known as a protege of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In 2009, he took over from his mentor, replacing him as the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate for the Lucknow constituency.
He used to seek Vajpayee’s blessings before carrying out any important work. He even campaigned in 2009 elections saying he had come carrying “Vajpayee’s sandals”. Tandon registered a mammoth victory in those elections. In 2014, his close aide Rajnath Singh got the ticket from Lucknow. After an exile of four years, he was made Bihar governor in 2018.
Controversies
During the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, when Vajpayee was contesting the elections, Tandon as his election agent held a saree distribution event that led to a stampede which killed 21 people.
He was booked under criminal charges on the orders of the Election Commission but later received a clean chit in the case.
During the 2007 Uttar Pradesh assembly election campaign, the Election Commission had registered an FIR against him in a case of distributing some controversial CDs.
Tandon also courted through his book “Ankaha Lucknow” released in 2018, in which he claimed that Lucknow was being deliberately transformed into “the city of Nawabi Tehzeeb” hinting at the alleged Muslim appeasement of the Samajwadi party which ruled the state till 2017 February.
