Jalandhar: The funeral of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary who died of a heart attack while participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra Saturday, was held on Sunday. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi paid his last respects to the erstwhile Dalit leader. Several senior Congress leaders were also present at the funeral.
Earlier on Saturday, Rahul Gandhi visited the deceased Congress leader's house to pay his last respects. Rahul's Yatra reached Jalandhar on Saturday where the late Congress MP from Jalandhar joined the Yatra on foot. The party had postponed the Yatra on Saturday after the leader's untimely demise. The Yatra will resume from Khalsa College Ground, Jalandhar on Sunday afternoon. Rahul Gandhi's press conference which was earlier scheduled for Sunday will now be held in Hoshiarpur on Tuesday.
Chaudhary, a Dalit leader, belonged to a family of politicians. His father Master Gurbanta Singh was a Dalit stalwart, an educationist and a former Punjab agriculture minister. Chaudhary's elder brother Chaudhary Jagjit Singh was a local bodies minister. Chaudhary's son Vikramjit Singh is a Congress MLA from the Phillaur assembly seat.
Chaudhary was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 and 2019. He had been MLA twice in 1992 and 2002. He was a minister in the Congress government as well. His native village is Dhaliwal near Kartarpur in the Jalandhar district.
