Former Lok Sabha speaker and Congress veteran Balram Jakhar died on Wednesday morning, his son Sunil Jakhar said. He was 92.
The cremation will be held at his native village Panchkosi in Punjab's Abohar town at 11 am on Thursday, said Sunil who is a former Punjab Congress Legislative Party leader.
Jakhar had suffered a brain stroke a year ago. He is survived by two sons and two daughters.
Jakhar served as the speaker of Lok Sabha from 1980 to 1989.
He was also the Madhya Pradesh governor from June 30, 2004 to May 30, 2009. He also served as the union agriculture minister during former prime minister P.V Narasimha Rao-led Congress government.
Jakhar enriched parliamentary democracy: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed grief over the death of Jakhar, saying he had enriched parliamentary democracy.
"Balram Jakhar ji was a popular leader who enriched our parliamentary democracy in his long political journey. Saddened by his demise,” Modi tweeted.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi also expressed her condolences on the death of the former union minister.
"The Congress party and the nation will forever remember the contributions made by him during the course of his long public life, particularly to the cause of farming community,” she said.
"Be it as a legislator, parliamentarian, minister, speaker or governor, Jakhar forever remained at the forefront in taking up issues concerning agriculture and farmers and his role in modernising the parliament secretariat was pioneering,” she added.
