BHOPAL: The BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh lost its first sitting parliamentarian due to COVID-19 related complications, as six-time BJP Lok Sabha member and former state party president Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan passed away on Monday late night.
Popularly known as 'Nandu Bhaiya', 68-year-old Chauhan was the sitting MP from Khandwa-Burhanpur seat of MP's Malwa-Nimar region. He died at Medanta Hospital in Delhi-NCR after battling for life on ventilator support for around a month.
He was airlifted to Delhi after his condition worsened while under treatment in Bhopal on February 5.
A BJP veteran, Chauhan had won from his native Khandwa-Burhanpur seat in the parliament's lower house six times between 1996 and 2019, except in 2009 when he lost to Congress's Arun Yadav.
He also served as MP BJP president once as well as the state BJP general secretary six times.
Expressing grief at Chauhan's death, PM Narendra Modi tweeted, "Saddened by the demise of Lok Sabha MP from Khandwa Shri Nandkumar Singh Chauhan Ji. He will be remembered for his contributions to Parliamentary proceedings, organisational skills and efforts to strengthen the BJP across Madhya Pradesh. Condolences to his family. Om Shanti."
Mourning the parliamentarian's death, state chief minister CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan described the tragedy as a personal loss. "In Nandu Bhaiya, the people have lost their sevak, the state its leader, the party an able organiser and I've lost a brother. He was a bridge between party's older and young generation, as he groomed under tall leaders like Kushabhau Thakre, Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia and Sunderlal Patwa."
Former MP CM and current state Congress president Kamal Nath and BJP Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia also condoled Chauhan's demise.