Congress leader, Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla dies of COVID-19

New Delhi, Apr 27: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla (70), died of COVID-19 in Raipur during the wee hours of Tuesday. She had tested positive and was hospitalised in a private hospital in Raipur.

The last rites will be performed today in Balodabazar. Shukla (70) was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha and represented the Janjgir-Champa Lok Sabha constituency in Chhattisgarh.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel expressed grief over the demise of Shukla.

"My aunt Karuna Shukla is no more. The ruthless Corona took her as well. She has had a very close family relationship outside of politics and I continued to get her blessings," he twitted in Hindi.

Shukla, who became MLA from BJP first in 1993 and was one of the senior leaders in Chhattisgarh. She was one of the national vice presidents of the BJP as well as the former national president of the BJP Mahila Morcha besides holding other posts in the party in past.

After having served the BJP for 32 years in different capacities quit the party to join Congress in October 2013 over being sidelined in the party and had openly criticised the BJP leadership.

During the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls 2018, she fought on the Congress party ticket against the former CM Raman Singh from Rajnandgaon constituency but couldn't win.