Mumbai: Veteran Congress leader Murli Deora passed away in the early hours of Monday at the age of 77.
Several leaders across parties paid tribute to Deora. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi also visited Mumbai to pay their respects to the Congress leader who held the portfolio of petroleum and natural gas in UPA-I.
Mr Deora was unwell for some time and admitted to a hospital. He returned home on Saturday. “He passed away at 3.25 am on Monday,” family sources informed. Mrs Gandhi also met Hema, the widow of the Congress leader, at their South Mumbai residence and offered her condolences.
PM Modi also offered condolences. In his tweet on Monday, Mr Modi said, “Just yesterday I had spoken to Shri Murli Deora’s family & asked about his health. Very sad to hear the unfortunate news today.”
CM Fadnavis said that Deora was a grassroots leader who was connected with top business leaders as well as the common man. Other BJP leaders also paid their respects to the senior Congress leader.
A loyalist with no foe
He was retained in the oil ministry when UPA won a second term in 2009, but was moved to Ministry of Corporate Affairs in January 2011 and finally dropped from the Cabinet later that year.
In a political career spanning over four decades, he was the longest serving chief of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee, which he helmed for 22 years.
He was a known to be pro-US even during the Cold War when India was closely aligned with the erstwhile Soviet Union and hosted several leaders from the US during the 1980s.
He will most be remembered for being at the centre of a bitter feud between two warring Ambani siblings over natural gas from Krishna Godavari basin. While the Anil Ambani Group accused him of helping Mukesh’s Reliance Industries on pricing and allocation of gas. Deora was the one who ordered a CAG audit of spending in the KG basin fields.
He was currently serving his third term in the Upper House. An economics graduate, he was Mayor of Mumbai from 1977 to 1978 and elected four times as MP for Mumbai South, a seat later held by his son, Milind. 77-year-old Deora was India’s longest serving petroleum minister - completing five years in office that began in Jan 2006.
