The mortal remains of the former Union Minister Harmohan Dhawan, 83, who passed away at a private hospital in Mohali on Saturday evening, were cremated with full state honours on Sunday at Sector 25 cremation ground.
The former Union Minister had developed some infection a few days ago and also underwent surgery at the hospital in Mohali. He also had suffered a fracture in his shoulder around three months back and had not been keeping well ever since. “Former Union Minister Dhawan was brought to the emergency wing in a critical condition on Saturday. The patient was attended to by a multi-disciplinary team of internal medicine, urology and cardiology doctors. Unfortunately, despite best efforts, including CPR to revive him after a cardiac arrest this evening, the patient passed away,” said an official from Max Hospital said.
Elected to the Lok Sabha from Chandigarh in 1989 on a Samajwadi Janata Party ticket, Dhawan went on to become the Union Civil Aviation Minister in Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar’s cabinet. In 1990, Dhawan switched to the Congress, but did not stay there for long due to differences with former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, and went on to float his own party, Chandigarh Vikas Manch, and contested 2004 Lok Sabha elections from Chandigarh, but lost.
Again in 2007, he moved to the Bahajun Samaj Party and contested 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Chandigarh unsuccessfully. The next year, he joined Bharatiya Janata Party. After remaining associated with the saffron party for nearly a decade, he joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2019 and fought the Lok Sabha elections from Chandigarh for the fourth time, losing again. A hotelier by profession, Dhawan had a strong hold in colonies and was known as a mass leader.