Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi passes away
by Rashmi DroliaFile photo of Ajit Jogi.
RAIPUR: Former chief minister of Chhattisgarh Ajit Pramod Kumar Jogi, 74, passed away on Friday while in coma after suffering from third cardiac arrest at a private hospital here.
Jogi was battling for life at a private hospital in Raipur for the last 20 days. He was admitted to Narayana hospital after a heart attack and subsequent swelling in the brain on May 9.
His legislator spouse Dr Renu Jogi, son Amit Jogi, a former legislator, and daughter-in-law Richa Jogi and his well-wishers were present at the hospital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish at death of the former chief minister of Chhattisgarh.
Narayana hospital spokesman Dr Sunil Khemka said cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was given and doctors tried for about two hours to revive his heart when he suffered a third heart attack at 1.30 PM on Friday.
Jogi suffered first cardiac arrest on May 9 at his residence after seed of ‘Ganga Imli’, a species of tamarind, stuck in his wind pipe. A doctor, who reached his residence, administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and was rushed to the hospital where the seed was pulled out. However, Ajit Jogi remained unconscious and later slipped into a coma after developing cerebral edema.
The former chief minister suffered yet another cardiac arrest on Wednesday night and doctors managed to revive functioning of heart but pulse and other parameters continued to fluctuate.
Ajit Jogi, a sitting legislator representing Marwahi (ST) a tribal constituency in the state legislative assembly, had turned 74 in April this year.
Ajit Jogi had quit the civil services in the early 1980s to join the Congress. Later, he became a member of the Rajya Sabha. The former IAS officer, however, shot into national lime light after the Congress picked him to become the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh—immediately after the new state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in November 2000.
Jogi remained as chief minister till December 2003 when the Congress lost power to BJP, which unseated Ajit Jogi government by winning the state’s maiden elections. The BJP retained power in the next assembly polls in 2008 and 2013 but Jogi continued to remain a prominent figure in the faction ridden state Congress.
However, Jogi quit the Congress in June 2016 and floated a new regional party Chhattisgarh Janata Congress (J) following serious differences with the state Congress organisation, which expelled his legislator son Amit Jogi from the party for six years following a controversy over alleged fixing of an assembly by-election. The Congress candidate for Antagarh (ST) by-poll in 2014 had bowed out of Congress at the last minute—giving a walkover to the ruling BJP candidate and Jogis were accused by the Congress for persuading and luring the Congress candidate to withdraw from the contest.
Jogi’s regional party and Bahujan Samaj Party entered into an alliance for the 2018 assembly elections—hoping to emerge as a third force in the state’s bi-polar politics but his Janata Congress could win only five seats as a Congress wave swept across the state—overthrowing the 15-year long BJP government.