UP: Adityanath pays floral tribute to Charan Singh on death anniversary

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Governor Ram Naik on Wednesday paid floral tributes to former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh on his death anniversary.

Several ministers including Minister of State for Rural Development, Mahendra Singh and Swati Singh were also present during the occasion inside the Assembly complex where a statue of Charan Singh was installed.

"'The road to the country's prosperity passes through the fields of the villages'. Paying tribute to the great freedom fighter and former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh Ji, who disseminated such thoughts into the society and dedicated his life for the welfare of the farmers, on his death anniversary," Adityanath tweeted.

Born in Meerut district in 1902, Singh was first elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1937 from Chhaprauli constituency and represented it in 1946, 1952, 1962 and 1967. He also held several ministry portfolios.

Singh served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh between 1967 to 1968, and for some time in 1970 before President's rule was imposed in the state. He was elected as the Deputy Prime Minister in Morarji Desai's government in 1977 and later became Prime Minister in 1979.

Singh's son Ajit Singh formed Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) party, which contested recently concluded Lok Sabha elections in alliance with Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) but could not win a single seat.