Former Union minister Raghunath Jha passed away at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi last night.
Jha was Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise under former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s government.
He was a member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and represented Bihar’s Bettiah constituency.
Mr Jha was also one of the three prominent chief ministerial candidates in Bihar after the 1990 Assembly polls but Lalu Prasad succeeded in his bid to lead the State’s first Janata Dal government.
The former minister’s body will reach Patna in the afternoon and the last rites will be performed at his village in Sheohar district.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, RJD leaders Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and others have expressed their grief and sorrow over the death of Mr Jha.
“For us demise of Raghunath Chacha (uncle) is irreparable…we express our deepest condolences at his death…I’m in Ranchi and will let our party leader Lalu Prasad know about Jha chacha’s death,” Tejashwi Yadav said.
