Gautam Lal Meena, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Dhariawad in Rajasthan's Pratapgarh district, died of COVID-19 infection on Wednesday. He was admitted to Maharana Bhupal Government Hospital in Udaipur on May 16 and was put on ventilator support when his condition deteriorated rapidly over the last two days.
Mr. Meena, 55, was elected an MLA thrice from Dhariawad in 2003, 2013 and 2018. He was earlier the Pradhan of Dhariawad Panchayat Samiti. He was actively looking after the arrangements for treatment of patients during the pandemic in his tribal-dominated constituency and extending relief to the needy people.
Fourth MLA to succumb to COVID-19
Mr. Meena was the fourth MLA in the State who lost his life to the COVID-19 infection. Earlier, Rajsamand MLA Kiran Maheshwari, Sahara MLA Kailash Trivedi and Vallabhnagar MLA Gajendra Singh Shaktawat died of the complications arising of the infection since October 2020. All the four MLAs were from the Mewar region.
Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former CM Vasundhara Raje have condoled the death of Mr. Meena. BJP State president Satish Poonia described Mr. Meena's death as an “irreparable loss” for the party.
