PATNA: Former minister Narendra Singh (75) died after prolonged liver-related ailment here on Monday. He had been rushed to the hospital for treatment Monday night. He was one of the prominent faces that had emerged in Bihar from the 1974 JP movement.
During his over four decades of active public life, he straddled the state’s political arena with socialist stalwarts like Karpoori Thakur. He had also worked with former CM Lalu Prasad and CM Nitish Kumar, besides former Union minister late Ram Vilas Paswan since his student days in Patna University.
“I had a long political association with Narendra Singh. He was my ministerial colleague and headed the agriculture department. We were together from the days of the JP movement. He was an accomplished politician devoted to equally active social concerns. His death has left a big void in the state,” Nitish said and announced that his cremation will take place with full state honours.
The cremation was scheduled for his native village. Earlier, Nitish visited the Polo Road residence of science and technology minister Sumit Kumar Singh, the son of Narendra, to offer floral tributes. Narendra was first elected to the state assembly in 1985 from Chakai in Jamui district, followed by that in 1990 and 2000 and later from Jamui. On Monday, before being taken to his village Bhaud in Jamui for the cremation, his body was brought to the legislative assembly premises where legislative council acting chairman Awadhesh Narayan Singh and assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, among others, paid tributes to him.
Condolence messages poured in, including from leader of opposition in the state assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, deputy CM Tarakishore Prasad and Union ministers RCP Singh and Ashwini Kumar Choubey. Narendra belonged to a political family. His father Srikrishna Singh was a colleague of Karpoori Thakur and was elected from Chakai in 1967 and 1969. While Narendra’s two other sons, Abhay Pratap Singh and Ajay Pratap Singh, also became MLAs, his third son Sumit is a minister in the state government.
