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Sakhlecha, ex-CM of Madhya Pradesh, dies at 69

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Virendra Kumar Sakhlecha died in Bhopal today of a heart attack.

He was 69 and is survived by his wife, three sons and a daughter.

Sakhlecha was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh from 1977 to 1980 when the Janata Party ruled the state.

He rebelled against the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership during the assembly election in Madhya Pradesh in November 1998 because he was refused a ticket and contested the poll as an independent. For this act of defiance, he was expelled from the party. He didn't win the election either.

BJP president Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre, state party president Nand Kumar Sai, state in-charge Lakhiram Agrawal, and working president Vikram Verma expressed grief at Sakhlecha's death.

UNI

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