In Tarn Taran for campaign, ex-MLA dies of cardiac arrest

Former Congress MLA from Banga Assembly segment Tirlochan Singh Soondh (71) died of cardiac arrest at a hotel in Tarn Taran, where he had gone to campaign for the party. A prominent Dalit leader of the party, he had twice served as an MLA in 2002 and 2012. Soondh had served as the Indian Foreign Service officer.

He was the son of the slain Congress minister Jagat Ram Soondh.

He had courted controversy in 2016 after hurling a shoe at then minister Bikram Singh Majthia in the Punjab Assembly over an alleged caste slur by Akali leader Virsa Singh Valtoha.

Soondh had left the party in 2017 but had rejoined in 2019 ahead of parliamentary elections. Congress leaders from across Punjab have mourned his demise.