Patna, Sep 9 :Former Bihar Assembly speaker and veteran Congress leader Sadanand Singh died here on Wednesday after prolonged illness. He was 76. He is survived by his wife Meena Devi, son Subhanand Mukesh and three daughters.
Singh breathed his last at a hospital here where he had been admitted for more than a month.
A die-hard Congressman, Singh made his debut in 1972 winning the Kahalgaon assembly segment which he came to represent a number of times during his five-decade-long political career.
An OBC leader in a party which has been associated mostly with the upper castes, he was chosen for the speaker’s chair by the party leadership in 2000.
Later, he also served as the leader of the Congress legislature party in the state but gave up electoral politics ahead of the assembly polls last year when his seat went to his son Shubhanand Mukesh.The party, however, lost the seat to the BJP.
Condolences have been pouring in from across the political spectrum for Singh.
Those who have expressed grief over the demise include Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Union minister Ashwini Choubey, former chief ministers Lalu Prasad and Jitan Ram Manjhi, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) chief Madan Mohan Jha besides leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav state BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal, and many senior leaders .
