New Delhi: Veteran Congress leader and former Union minister Mohsina Kidwai, who held key ministerial portfolios under former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, breathed her last on Wednesday at the age of 94.
Kidwai was suffering from age-related ailments and passed away at Noida's Metro Hospital early in the morning. She will be laid to rest at the graveyard in Nizamuddin around 5 pm on Wednesday evening.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge met with her family members and offered his condolences.
Who Was Mohsina Kidwai?
Mohsina Kidwai held important portfolios in the Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi governments. She also served as a member of the Congress Working Committee and the party's Central Election Committee.
She was a member of four Houses at different points in her life: an MLC, an MLA, and an MP in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
Kidwai's political career began at the age of 28 in 1960, after she won a seat in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council. Her rise in national politics began with her victory in the 1978 by-election for the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.
She also made headlines in 2022 during the Congress party's presidential polls, when she emerged as one of the proposers for Shashi Tharoor's candidature. Tharoor had lost to Kharge in that election.
Congress leader and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi also expressed condolences to her family.
"The news of the demise of former Union Minister and former MP Mohsina Kidwai ji is extremely heartbreaking. She was a highly senior and loyal leader of the Congress Party, whose entire life has been an example of public service. With her simplicity, gentleness, and dignified political success, she inspired several generations of women in the country."
"In this hour of grief, I express my deepest condolences to the bereaved family members and supporters," he added.
