Former lucknow Mayor and Padamshree Dr S C Rai died here after a prolonged illness. He was around 80.
A close confident of former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee, Dr Rai, was an eminent surgeon. He joined politics on the initiative of the former PM after his retirement from Provincial Health and Medical Services (PHMS) as Director.
“He was not keen to join politics. But it was the persuasion of Atal ji that forced him to join politics. He always used to say “main politics mein Atal I ke karan hun”,” senior BJP leader lalji Tandon said.
According to family members Dr Rai was admitted to the hospital for past couple of months and he died at around 1330 hours at lari Cardiology. He will be cremated at Bhaisakund at 9 am on Monday. The funeral procession will start from 8 in the morning from his Mahanagar residence, a family member said.
Dr Rai was twice the mayor of lucknow from December 1995 to February 2006 and was one of the popular doctors of the senior politicians like former PMs Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Chandrashekhar, V P Singh and Chaudhry Charan Singh. It is believed he was the only doctor who had treated four Prime Ministers of the country. It is rare achievement for any doctor, tendon said
He was conferred with Padamshree for public services in 2002.
Meanwhile Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi party national president Mulayam Singh Yadav, BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya, lucknow Mayor Dr Dinesh Sharma and state BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak have condoled the death of Dr Rai.
In his condolence message CM said with death of Dr Rai lucknow has lost a son of the soil. He has always worked for the welfare of the people, he said.