Senior Congress Leader & Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Niece Karuna Shukla Succumbs To COVID-19

Senior Congress leader Karuna Shukla passed away on Tuesday. She was undergoing COVID-19 treatment in Raipur after testing positive for the virus.

Shukla, the niece of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was hospitalised in a private hospital in Raipur and her condition deteriorated on Monday late night. She was 70.

Shukla was a two-time Lok Sabha member. She had served the Bharatiya Janata Party for 32 long years in different capacities before quitting the party to join Congress in October 2013 ahead of the Assembly elections. She fought her last election on the Congress party ticket against the former CM Raman Singh from Rajnandgaon constituency during the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls 2018.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel expressed grief over the demise of Shukla, a former member of Parliament and national vice-president of BJP. “My aunt Karuna Shukla is no more. The ruthless corona... I continued to get her blessings...,” he tweeted in Hindi. Baghel said he had close family ties with her outside politics.

मेरी करुणा चाची यानी करुणा शुक्ला जी नहीं रहीं। निष्ठुर कोरोना ने उन्हें भी लील लिया।

राजनीति से इतर उनसे बहुत आत्मीय पारिवारिक रिश्ते रहे और उनका सतत आशीर्वाद मुझे मिलता रहा।

ईश्वर उन्हें अपने श्रीचरणों में स्थान दें और हम सबको उनका विछोह सहने की शक्ति। pic.twitter.com/gumLKp0Lfq

— Bhupesh Baghel (@bhupeshbaghel) April 26, 2021

"May God give her space in their shrines and we all have the power to bear her loss,” he added.

Who is Karuna Shukla?

Karuna Shukla became MLA from BJP first in 1993 and was one of the senior leaders in Chhattisgarh. She was one of the national vice presidents of the BJP as well as the former national president of the BJP Mahila Morcha besides holding other posts in the party in the past.

Her last rites will be performed today in Balodabazar, as per reports.

COVID-19 cases in Chhattisgarh

Meanwhile, amid the ongoing lockdown, Chhattisgarh still remains among eight states with more than one lakh active COVID-19 cases. The state reported 15,084 fresh cases, 380 discharges, and 215 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to news agency ANI, adding that over 1.21 lakh cases are active.

According to the state's data, as many as 88 percent of health workers and 92 percent of frontline workers in the state have been given the first dose of the vaccine.

#Unite2FightCorona#LargestVaccineDrive

Ten states account for 67.3% of the total doses given so far in the country. pic.twitter.com/QEx5AYdR5i

— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) April 27, 2021

Feature Image Credit: Deccan Herald