Three-time Delhi chief minister and senior Congress leader Sheila Dikshit passed away at a hospital in Delhi on Saturday after suffering from cardiac arrest. She was 81.
Dikshit had been ill for a long time. On Friday, she was admitted to Fortis Escorts Heart Institute in a critical state. According to reports, the Congress leader suffered from cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) and had to be immediately put on ventilator.
Dr Ashok Seth, Director, Escorts Fortis said: “Sheila Dikshit was managed well by a team of doctors. At 3:15 pm she again suffered a cardiac arrest. She was put on ventilator and at 3:55 pm she passed away peacefully.”
“A multi-disciplinary team of doctors, led by Dr Ashok Seth, Chairman, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, carried out the advanced resuscitative measures. Her condition stabilised temporarily. However, she had another cardiac arrest and despite all the resuscitative efforts, passed away at 3:55 pm on 20th of July 2019,” Fortis said in a statement quoted by NDTV.
Last year, Sheila Dikshit underwent heart surgery in France.
She had undergone angioplasty in November 2012 and was also treated for infection some time ago.
81-year-old Dikshit has been the chief minister of Delhi three times and lost to Arvind Kejriwal in 2013 in an unprecedented election.
She was appointed the President of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee in January this year after the incumbent Ajay Maken stepped down citing health issues.
After the Congress’ defeat in Delhi in the Lok Sabha elections, Dikshit had offered her resignation to the party president but it was not accepted.
The Congress had lost all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi to BJP with huge margins.
However, under Dikshit’s leadership, the party managed to push AAP candidates on the third place in five of the seven seats, besides registering growth in its vote share.
Despite being an octogenarian, Dikshit led the party in Lok Sabha polls and herself contested against Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari from the North East Delhi seat. She lost by over 3.66 lakh votes.