New Delhi, Mar 18 (UNI) In his death, Late Manohar Parrikar has joined the unique club of Gopinath Bordoloi of Assam and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of Jammu and Kashmir to die in office as Chief Minister.
Among others, Beant Singh also died in office as Chief Minister of Punjab in 1995. Late Beant Singh was assassinated by Sikh terrorists in a suicide attack on August 31 in 1995 and like Parrikar's supporters, admirers of Beant Singh had also demanded Bharat Ratna - country's highest civilian award for the former Punjab CM, who had given free hand to super cop KPS Gill to crush Sikh militancy during the stint of P V Narasimha Rao as the Prime Minister.
The first Chief Minister of Assam, Late Gopinath Bordoloi, breathed his last in office on August 5, 1950.
He was a follower of the Gandhian principle of non-violence and due to his selfless love for the state, then Governor of Assam Jayram Das Doulatram had conferred him with the title "Lokapriya (loved by all)".
However, he was given Bharat Ratna only in 1999. A life-size statue of Bordoloi was unveiled on October 1, 2002 in the Parliament House by then President of India A P J Abdul Kalam.
In Tamil Nadu, the legendary M G Ramachandran, the persona that dominated Tamil films and politics and had given a new twist to 'anti-Delhi and Dravidian politics', also died in office in 1987. The Rajiv Gandhi government gave him Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1988.
In Gujarat, Chimanbhai Patel died as an incumbent Chief Minister on February 17, 1994.
Late MGR's follower J Jayalalithaa also died in office as head of a government in the southern state.
The 'Amma' of Tamil Nadu politics died on December 5, 2016. She first became Chief Minister in 1991 and ran the party AIADMK virtually single-handed - often assisted by the likes of controversial loyalist V K Sasikala.
It is ironical that while Late Parrikar died of prolonged illness, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy died as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister in September 2009 when his helicopter crashed in a dense forest in Chitoor district.
Another Congress leader who died in chopper crash has been Dorjee Khandu of Arunachal Pradesh in April 2011.
Late Khandu holds the unique distinction of serving in the Indian Army Intelligence Corps and had also won a gold medal for the meritorious service rendered during Bangladesh War in 1971.
In Jammu and Kashmir, former Union Home Minister (only Muslim elevated to the post) Mufti Mohammad Sayeed also died as the Chief Minister on January 7, 2016 passing the responsibility of PDP and the PDP-BJP alliance to his daughter Mehbooba Mufti.
Mufti Sayeed first became Chief Minister in 2002 when the Vajpayee government was in power at the Centre. In first stint, PDP had an alliance with the Congress while in the second tenure, his party had worked an alliance with the BJP.
Prior to him years back, Sheikh Abdullah, the founder of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, also died when in office in 1982.
The only Muslim Chief Minister of Rajasthan Barkatullah Khan died of a heart attack while in office at the aged 53 years on October 11, 1973.
Another Gujarat stalwart to die as Chief Minister was Balwantrai Mehta. In fact he was a war casualty as during the Indo-Pak War, his civilian aircraft was shot down by the Pakistan Air Force on September 19, 1965.
In Tamil Nadu, C N Annadurai also died in office in February 1969.
Incidentally, Parrikar is the second Goan Chief Minister to die in office. Earlier, Dayanand Bandodkar, Goa's first Chief Minister, died in harness in 1973.
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