Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj passes away

Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj passed away on Tuesday night, AIIMS sources said. She was 67. The senior BJP leader was brought to AIIMS between 9:30pm and 10:00 pm and was straight away taken to the emergency ward.

Several senior ministers, including Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, reached AIIMS after she was admitted to the hospital. Swaraj had put out a tweet in the evening congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Centre's move to revoke special status for Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate the border state into two Union Territories secured Parliament's approval.

"Narendra Modi ji - Thank you Prime Minister. Thank you very much. I was waiting to see this day in my lifetime," she had said. Swaraj had a kidney transplant in 2016 and had opted out of contesting Lok Sabha polls earlier this year for health reasons.

She is survived by her husband Swaraj Kaushal and daughter Bansuri.