Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Das Tandon passes away

Raipur, Aug 14: Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Das Tandon passed away on Tuesday at Raipur's Ambedkar Hospital. He was 90-years-old.

Tandon, who was ailing for the past many days, was put on life support system after his condition deteriorated.

Some reports quoting unconfirmed sources had earlier said that the Governor suffered a heart attack.

He was deputy chief minister in the Justice (retd) Gurnam Singh-led Akali Dal-Jan Sangh cabinet in 1969-70 . He had also served as cabinet minister in 1977-79 and in 1997-2002 in the ministries headed by Parkash Singh Badal.

Tandon was a founding member of the Jan Sangh in 1951, and served as secretary of Punjab Jan Sangh from 1951 to 1957, and as president of the Punjab BJP from 1995-97.

He was elected to Punjab Legislative Assembly from Amritsar in 1960,1962,1967,1969, and 1977, and from Rajpura in 1997. He was imprisoned in 1975 during the Emergency for 19 months.

On 14 July 2014 he was named as the next Governor of Chhattisgarh.