Former UP minister and senior Congress leader Vivek Singh passes away

Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh Minister and senior Congress leader Vivek Singh passed away in Delhi on Friday after a brief illness.

He was 64 and is survived by his wife and two sons.

The body will be taken to Banda district where the cremation will be performed, said a family member.

Vivek Singh was first elected to the state Assembly in 1996 and went on to become one of the architects of the erstwhile Loktantrik Congress which was formed by a breakaway group of the Congress.

He had served as a minister in the Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh governments in Uttar Pradesh.

Vivek Singh, later, returned to the Congress and remained with the party till date.

In February this year, he had been appointed as a member of the three-member Advisory Council to party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Uttar Pradesh.

State Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu offered condolence to the departed leader and has said that the passing away of Vivek Singh was a great loss to the party.

–IANS