Narinder Bragta dies a month after Covid recovery

Shimla, June 5

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Narinder Bragta (68), who was a sitting BJP legislator from the Jubbal-Kotkhai Assembly segment in Shimla, died at the PGI, Chandigarh, this morning after a brief illness.

The three-time MLA, who was the Chief Whip of the BJP in the Vidhan Sabha, had recovered from Covid. He was admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh, about a month back due to heart and kidney ailments.

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The death of the former minister is a major setback for the ruling party as he was considered a tall leader from old Himachal, who vociferously raised the issues concerning people of the area, particularly apple growers.

Bragta had been elected to the Vidhan Sabha for the first time in 1998 and remained horticulture minister in the BJP regime led by Dhumal from 1998 to 2003. He was again inducted into the Cabinet by the Dhumal government from 2007 to 2012. He was born on September 12, 1952, and his son Chetan Bragta, a BJP youth wing leader, is his political successor.

Bragta had been peeved at not being inducted in the BJP regime headed by Jai Ram Thakur after the BJP assumed power in 2017. He was considered a staunch Dhumal loyalist, who never hesitated to speak his mind when it came to raising issues concerning people of his Assembly segment and the apple belt comprising Shimla, Kinnaur, Solan and Sirmaur. He believed in calling a spade a spade, irrespective of the consequences, a trait which resulted in his being labelled as a dissident.

Attempts were made to placate him by appointing him as the Chief Whip. However, he continued to make utterances which clearly reflected his displeasure for not being accorded importance as per his political stature. He lost out in the race for a ministerial berth in 2017 as the party chose to give chance to Shimla MLA Suresh Bhardwaj, who made it to the Cabinet for the first time. — TNS

Three-time MLA

• Narinder Bragta had been elected to the Vidhan Sabha for the first time in 1998 and remained horticulture minister in the BJP regime led by Dhumal from 1998 to 2003
• He was again inducted into the Cabinet by the Dhumal government from 2007 to 2012.