Samajwadi Party Leader Rammurti Singh Verma No More

Former Uttar Pradesh minister and Samajwadi Party leader Rammurti Singh Verma died on Friday following a prolonged illness, family sources said. He was 71.

Verma was admitted to a private hospital in Bareilly on Wednesday and was undergoing dialysis. He passed away during treatment around 2.30 am on Friday, the party's district president Tanveer Khan was quoted by PTI.

Last month, the SP leader was admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi and was discharged later, the PTI report said.

Verma was a four-time MLA — three times from Jalalabad seat and once from Dadraul. He also represented Shahjahanpur in Lok Sabha.

In 2015, he was accused of killing a local journalist and an FIR was registered against him. Later, the victim's family members reached a compromise with him and the case was closed.

SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav condoled Verma's death and said he was among the founding members of the party.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA from Auraiya (Sadar) Ramesh Diwakar, 56, died due to COVID-19 on Thursday night.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath condoled his demise and termed it a loss for the party.