Former Bihar education minister Mewalal Choudhary dies of Covid

Former Bihar education minister and Janata Dal (United)’s sitting MLA from Tarapur assembly constituency, Mewalal Choudhary died on Monday morning due to Covid-related complications, said doctors. Choudhary, 68, breathed his last at a private hospital in Patna, where he was under treatment since last Friday.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar described the deceased legislator as a “distinguished educationist, politician and social worker” and added that his death was an irreparable loss for the education and social sectors and also for politics. The state government will hold his last rites with full state honours.

Leader of the Opposition, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, and several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and JD(U) leaders too condoled Choudhary’s death.

Choudhary is among several top politicians in the state to have died due to Covid-19- related complications in the last one year. Kapildev Kamat and Vinod Kumar Singh, both ministers, died in Ocotber last year due to the virus. Former Union rural development minister and senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh also died due to Covid-related issues in August last year.

He quit Kumar’s Cabinet last year after RJD-led Opposition alliance opposed his induction citing corruption charges against the leader.

Bihar has been witnessing an unprecedented rise in Covid cases in the last few days. On Sunday, 8,690 fresh cases were registered taking the number of active cases in the state to 44,700, as per the state health department.