SP founding member Beni Prasad Verma passes away

NEW DELHI: Former Union minister and Samajwadi Party  (SP) founding member Beni Prasad Verma died here on Friday. He was 79.nnThe Rajya Sabha member was not keeping well for the past few days and was admitted to a private hospital in Lucknow, where he died around 7 pm, his son Rakesh Verma told PTI.nnVerma was the telecom minister between 1996-1998 in then prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s cabinet and the steel minister in the Congress-led UPA-II government.nnSamajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav reached the hospital and condoled his death. Verma is survived by three sons and two daughters.nn

समाजवादी पार्टी के वरिष्ठ नेता और पूर्व केंद्रीय मंत्री बेनी प्रसाद वर्मा जी के निधन पर अस्पताल पहुंचकर राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष जी ने श्रद्धांजलि अर्पित की। 'बेनी बाबूजी' के निधन से हम समस्त समाजवादी अत्यंत शोकाकुल हैं। pic.twitter.com/RLx3qMMHcB

— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) March 27, 2020

nnThe former Union minister’s association with SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav spans over four decades.nnIn the 2007 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Verma had floated his own political party, which failed to open its account. In 2009, Verma formally joined the Congress and contested the Lok Sabha election from the Gonda seat, but lost.nnThe Kurmi leader quit the Congress and in 2016, rejoined the Samajwadi Party, which sent him to the Rajya Sabha.nnUttar Pradesh Governor Anandi Ben Patel, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra condoled the leader’s death.nnSource: Press Trust of India