Prabha Rau passes away after suffering a cardiac arrest; funeral in Wardha today.
Rajasthan Governor Prabha Rau, 75, passed away on Monday after suffering a cardiac arrest at the Jodhpur House guesthouse in New Delhi.
Rau, who is survived by two daughters, collapsed in the toilet of the guesthouse and was rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) around 11am, officials said. Doctors pronounced her dead at about 12.30pm.
President Pratibha Patil and prime minister Manmohan Singh led the nation in mourning Rau's death. Congress president Sonia Gandhi was among the first to visit the Jodhpur guesthouse to pay her last respects to the legendary leader. Rau's body will be flown to Wardha district in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region on Tuesday and the cremation is to be held at 4 pm.
A woman of substance whose heart always skipped for Maharashtra, Rau always led from the front, taking the command and control of roles assigned to her by the Congress high command. As the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president from 2004 to 2008, Rau completely took reins of the party in her hands.
Known for her straight forwardness, she even entered into disputes with her party's alliance partner, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar, to promote the interests of Congress in state. She would often jokingly say, "I have turned grey and yet it is very difficult to understand the shrewd political moves of Pawar."
A section of Congress workers close to Rau also tried hard to promote her as chief minister of Maharashtra, but the post eluded her. When asked about taking over as chief minister, Rau said: "Do you think I would crave for position. I come from a family of freedom fighters. In the past, I had turned down the offer of chief minister."
Rau started her political career in 1972 as the member of the state legislature assembly from Deoli. In 1999, she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wardha constituency. Her political career spanning over three decades saw her playing various roles in the Congress as MLA, MP, state minister, MPCC president (1984-89 and 2004-08) and governor. In the state cabinet, she held crucial portfolios like planning, industry, education, sports & youth affairs, revenue and cultural affairs.
Former chief minister and union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the Congress had lost a veteran politician. "She was an extremely disciplined leader and tried hard to imbibe the discipline in Congress workers."
Deshmukh was joined by union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde in expressing grief over Rau's demise. "She was a visionary politician. She always struggled for the welfare of the common man. She was a motherly figure to all Congresssmen and her loss is irreparable," Shinde said.
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