Senior Congress leader and former union minister Pandit Sukh Ram, 95, passed away in New
Delhi where he was undergoing treatment at AIIMS on Wednesday.
Sukh Ram suffered a brain stroke in Manali on May 4. Subsequently, he was admitted at the
regional hospital in Mandi from where he was airlifted to Delhi on Saturday for better treatment
at AIIMS. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on May 7 provided a state
helicopter for airlifting the veteran leader to Delhi.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has expressed deep grief over the sad demise of former Union
Telecommunication Minister and senior Congress leader from the State. Thakur said that he
was a great visionary leader who would always be remembered for bringing telecom revolution
in the country.
Sukh Ram was the Union Minister of State, Communications (Independent Charge) from 1993
to 1996. He was a member of Lok Sabha from the Mandi constituency of Himachal Pradesh. He
won the Vidhan Sabha elections five times and the Lok Sabha elections three times. Sukh
Ram's son Anil Sharma is a BJP MLA from Mandi.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1984 and served as a junior minister in the Rajiv Gandhi
government. Sukh Ram served as minister of state for defence production and supplies,
planning and food and civil supplies. Sukh Ram was the Union minister of state (independent
charge) holding the communications portfolio from 1993 to 1996.
While Sukh Ram represented the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, his son Anil Sharma
contested and won the Assembly seat in 1993.