BJP MP Ratanlal Kataria passed away from Ambala, Haryana

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Chandigarh, May 18 (Hindustan Times). Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Ambala in Haryana and former Union Minister Ratanlal Kataria passed away at PGI Chandigarh early on Thursday morning. He breathed his last at the age of 72. He was unwell for some days. With his demise, the Bharatiya Janata Party has lost its fiery orator and Dalit leader. He is considered as one of the prominent leaders of former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s faction in Haryana.

BJP leader Kataria was born on 19 December 1951 in Sandhli village of Yamunanagar district of Haryana. Kataria, who started public life with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh five decades ago, held the posts of president of the Harijan Kalyan Nigam and president of the Guru Ravidas Sabha. Ratanlal Kataria developed fever about two months ago. After which he was admitted to PGI Chandigarh due to lung problem. He was treated here for about one and a half months.

Condoling Kataria’s death, Chief Minister Manohar Lal has said that the party has lost a fighting leader. Few people know that Kataria used to sing for the strength of the organization at party events on several occasions. It is worth mentioning that when the UPA government came to power in the country for the first time, the price of sugar increased a lot. Kataria wrote a song on this – Chini jandi e chhalanga maradi, menu yaad ayi atal sarkar di. This song of Kataria became famous all over Haryana.

Kataria, a senior BJP leader, was honored by the first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as a child artist at the age of just 13. He represented the Ambala constituency in the Lok Sabha in 1999, 2014 and 2019. In May 2019, he became the Union Minister for Jal Shakti and Social Justice Empowerment.

Before this he was the President of Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party from 2000 to 2003. Edited BJP’s Talk magazine in October 2000. Kataria was also an MLA from Radaur in 1987 and became the Revenue Minister in the then government. He was also made the Chairman of Haryana Warehousing Corporation in the year 1996.