HISAR: Former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal died in this town following cardiac arrest Friday. He was 80.
Family sources said Bhajan Lal had been ailing for the last few months but suffered a heart attack Friday evening.
He was rushed to a private hospital here where doctors declared him dead.
He is survived by his wife Jasma Devi, two sons - former Haryana deputy chief minister Chander Mohan and Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) president and former MP Kuldip Bishnoi - and a daughter.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda expressed shock and grief over the demise of Bhajan Lal.
Hooda said the Haryana government has declared a three-day state mourning and a public holiday Saturday as a mark of respect to the leader. Governor Jagannath Pahadia also condoled the death of Bhajan Lal.
Bhajan Lal, who was Haryana chief minister thrice (1979-82, 1982-86 and 1991-96), was the Lok Sabha MP from Hisar. He had won in the 2009 elections on the ticket of his new party, the Haryana Janhit Congress.
Born Oct 6, 1930 at a village in Bawahalpur district (now in Pakistan), Bhajan Lal started as a petty trader but soon became one of the most famous political personalities in Haryana politics. He was particularly well-known for engineering defections of legislators to form governments in the state.
He was central minister for environment and forests (1986-88) and agriculture (1988-89) in the Rajiv Gandhi government.
He was first elected as a legislator in Haryana from the Adampur seat in 1968, two years after Haryana was formed in 1966.