<p> Veteran Congress leader Makhanlal Fotedar died at a private hospital on Thursday. He was 85.<br /><br />Fotedar had been suffering from a respiratory infection besides being treated for diabetes and hypertension. “He breathed his last at 1:30 pm at Medanta Hospital in neighbouring Gurugram,” a Congress leader said.<br /><br />Fotedar was a trusted lieutenant of late prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. He was known as “Chanakya” of the Congress.<br /><br />Of late, Fotedar had been critical of Rahul Gandhi’s leadership qualities and had claimed that Indira saw his younger sibling Priyanka as her political successor.<br /><br />Born into a middle-class Kashmiri Pandit family, Fotedar took the political plunge by campaigning for Jawaharlal Nehru from the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh and has been a family loyalist ever since.</p>
<p> Veteran Congress leader Makhanlal Fotedar died at a private hospital on Thursday. He was 85.<br /><br />Fotedar had been suffering from a respiratory infection besides being treated for diabetes and hypertension. “He breathed his last at 1:30 pm at Medanta Hospital in neighbouring Gurugram,” a Congress leader said.<br /><br />Fotedar was a trusted lieutenant of late prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. He was known as “Chanakya” of the Congress.<br /><br />Of late, Fotedar had been critical of Rahul Gandhi’s leadership qualities and had claimed that Indira saw his younger sibling Priyanka as her political successor.<br /><br />Born into a middle-class Kashmiri Pandit family, Fotedar took the political plunge by campaigning for Jawaharlal Nehru from the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh and has been a family loyalist ever since.</p>
