V P Singh passes away

Former Prime Minister V P Singh, who formed the first non-Congress coalition government at the Centre dethroning Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress in the 1989 elections, died here today after prolonged illness.

Battling blood cancer since 1991 and suffering from renal failure, 77-year-old Singh, also known as 'Raja of Manda', breathed his last at the Apollo Hospital here in the afternoon, his close associate Wasim Ahmad said.