Former Madhya Pradesh minister and senior BJP leader Laxmikant Sharma dies of COVID-19

Senior BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh minister Laxmikant Sharma died of coronavirus at a private hospital, family sources said on Tuesday.

Sharma, 60, succumbed to the deadly infection at Chirayu Hospital and Medical College on Monday night, the hospital's director Dr Ajay Goenka said.

The senior BJP leader is survived by his wife and three daughters, the family sources stated. Sharma's last rites were performed at Sironj, his ancestral town, in Vidisha district with full state honours on Tuesday, they said.

Sharma was elected as an MLA from Sironj Assembly seat for four terms in 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008.

The senior BJP leader had served as a minister in the cabinet of former chief ministers Uma Bharti and Babulal Gaur and also under the present Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the party sources said.

Sharma was embroiled in the Vyapam (admission and recruitment) scam, but was given a clean chit by the CBI in 2019, the sources added.

The chief minister condoled Sharma's death in a tweet.