Chhattisgarh’s first CM Ajit Jogi passes away at 74

Chhattisgarh's first Chief Minister, Ajit Jogi passed away on Friday after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 74. Jogi had been in the hostpital for nearly three weeks, and had suffered two cardiac arrests in the last week. The news was shared on twitter by his son Amit.

"The 20-year-old youth of the state of Chhattisgarh rose from his father's shadow today. Not just me, even Chhhattisgarh has lost not just a leader but their father," he wrote.

He added that Ajit Jogi had left his family of 2.5 crore people to go to God. Calling Jogi the "support system of the poor" who was cherished by the state, Amit said that he had now gone very far.

His funeral will take place tomorrow in his native land Gorela, Amit Jogi said.

Jogi who served as the District Collector of Indore in the 1980s was perhaps the first to make the transition from IAS officer to Chief Minister. A two-time Rajya Sabha member, Jogi began his political life as a member of the All India Congress Committee on welfare of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Reportedly, it was the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who had persuaded Jogi to join the Congress.

Over the years, Jogi would go on to become a Member of Parliament several times, beginning with the Raigarh constituency in the 12th Lok Sabha. He became Chhattisgarh's first Chief Minister after the state was formed in 2000.

His connection with the Congress however became strained in 2016, and he and his son exited the party over allegations of anti-party activities, forming the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh. His party failed to make a dent in the 2018 polls.

More recently, in 2019 Jogi had announced that the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh would not contest in Lok Sabha elections in Chhattisgarh. Instead, their ally, the Bahujan Samaj Party had contested the Lok Sabha polls.