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Mumbai: Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Rajiv Satav (46) succumbs to COVID-19. He had been under treatment for COVID-19, passed away in Pune on Sunday.
Rajiv Satav was admitted to Jehangir hospital in Pune. His health was deteriorated and took his last breath today morning.
The 46-year-old Satav, a member of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) and considered a mainstay of his party in the State’s Vidarbha and Marathwada regions, had tested positive on April 22. He was later admitted to the city’s Jehangir Hospital. He has been on a ventilator after his condition worsened.
Rajeev, a young leader of the Congress from Parbhani in the Marathwada district was known as a leader from the inner circle of Rahul Gandhi. Rajeev was the Member of the Lower House (Lok Sabha) between the 2014 and 2019. He was elected from the Hingoli Lok Sabha constituency. Apart from Rajeev only Ashok Chavan was elected in 16th Lok Sabha during the Narendra Modi wave.
Started his political career as a member of Panchayat Samiti, Kalamnuri in Hingoli district in the year 2002, later he was elected in Hingoli Zilla Parishad. He served the position of Chairman, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry committee o Hingoli ZP.
Rajeev was President of Maharashtra Youth Congress between 2008 and 2010. He entered the Maharashtra state assembly for the first time in the year 2009. He completed his term as MLA from Hingoli till the year 2014. Meanwhile, Congress’ then-Vice President Rahul Gandhi appointed him as the president of All India Youth Congress Committee in 2010. He served the position till 2014.
During the Modi wave, Rajeev was elected as a Lok Sabha member in 2014. Congress could win only two seats from Maharashtra – the state which was once known as the bastion of Congress.
Rajeev was close to Rahul Gandhi and hence he was given the responsibility of Gujarat – the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rajeev was Congress-in-Charge of Gujarat since the year 2018.
Randeep Surajewala, Congress spokesperson tweet about the sad demise of Satav. Rajiv was known as a close aid of Rahul Gandhi.
Leaders from across the party reacted to his death.
MPCC chief Nana Patole said, “This is extremely shocking news. I feel like I have lost my younger brother. Mere words cannot do justice to this loss which is a big blow for Congress. He was a leader who took everyone along with him. It is especially dispiriting that he passed away at such a young age.”
Maharashtra PWD Minister and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said, “Rajeev Satav’s loss is dispiriting for his colleagues and friends and the Congress in the country and Maharashtra. It is unbelievable that he is no more. Within a short period, through the sheer dint of his abilities, he shot through the ranks, to rise meteorically from the Zilla level to shoulder big responsibilities for the party at the national level. He will be keenly missed.”
Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope, whose family had known and were on good terms with Satav’s family, said, “it is an unfortunate and irreparable loss not just for his family, his party but for all of Maharashtra. I rushed to Pune on hearing his condition had deteriorated. My family has had associations with his family for two generations now. We both are leaders from the Marathwada region and that region will be feeling intensely the shock of his death.”
