In Sinha's death, comes the end of an era

Patna, Sep 4 (UNI) Former Bihar Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader Satyendra Narain Sinha, who passed away this morning, joined the electoral politics in 1952 after participating in the freedom struggle and the Constituent Assembly.

Born in 1917 at Poinawa village in Gaya district in a freedom fighter's family, he graduated from Allahabad University in 1938 and later obtained LLB degree from Lucknow University in 1940. He was a leading lawyer in Patna High Court till 1950 when he was elected to constitutional Assembly.

In 1952, he was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time from Aurangabad constituency, and reelected in 1957, while in 1961 he became the Education Minister.

He was elected to the Bihar Assembly from Gopalganj Assembly constituency in byelection in 1963 and again became Education Minister in the K B Sahay Ministry. In 1967, he entered Bihar Assembly from Nabinagar Assembly constituency.

In 1969, he left the Congress while he was elected to Lok Sabha from Aurangabad for fifth time in 1971.

In 1977 during the anti-Congress wave in the country, he was made president of Bihar Janata Party. Mr Sinha was elected to Lok Sabha from Aurangabad in 1977, while his wife also won the Lok Sabha election from Vaishali the same year.

On March 17, 1984, he rejoined the Congress in Patna in presence of then Prime Minister and Congress president Ms Indira Gandhi.

On March 11, 1989, Mr Sinha was sworn in as Bihar Chief Minister and continued in the post for about eight months. He remained aloof from active politics, during the later part of his life.

He had also written a book 'Meri Yaden, Meri Bhulen', which was formally released by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee here last year.

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