Raj Karan Singh, Congress' former Sultanpur MP, dies at 90

Veteran Congress leader and former Sultanpur MP Raj Karan Singh has died, a party leader said on Sunday. He was 90.

Anil Singh, the Congress' district unit spokesperson, said Raj Karan Singh, a close aide of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, died late on Saturday night at his native Nevada village in the Musafirkhana area of Amethi district.

He was an MP from Sultanpur from 1984 to 1989.

Singh added that the former MP was "like a mentor to all of us" and his death is a great loss to the party.

The Samajwadi Party's Gauriganj MLA Rakesh Pratap Singh, BJP leader Tejbhan Singh and the Congress' former district unit chief Yogendra Mishra expressed their sorrow at the former MP's passing.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress general secretary and the party's Uttar Pradesh in-charge, said, "Received the sad news of the demise of Raj Karan Singh, former MP from Sultanpur and an associate of Rajiv Gandhi."

"Raj Karan Singh ji did selfless public service in the Amethi-Sultanpur area. May God give him a place at the holy feet and courage to the family members to bear the pain in this hour of grief. Humble tribute," she said in a tweet in Hindi.