Ajit Jogi, the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh, passed away on Friday after a prolonged illness. The news was confirmed today by his son Amit Jogi through a post on his twitter handle.

Jogi, 74, was battling for life at a private hospital in Raipur for the last 20 days. Jogi, the first chief minister of the state, was admitted there on May 9 after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home. He had since then remained critical and was on ventilator support.

Jogi, who quit the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) to join politics, is an MLA from the Marwahi region. He became the first CM of Chhattisgarh as the leader of the Congress party back in 2000.

He later lost his position after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated the Congress in the first elections to the Assembly in 2003. Due to differences with Congress leaders, Jogi formed the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) in 2016 and became its head.

-with agency inputs

First Published:May 29, 2020 4:19 PM IST