Samajwadi Party supremo and former Uttar Pradesh CM Mulayam Singh Yadav passes away at 82

Samajwadi Party supremo and former Uttar Pradesh CM Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away at the age of 82

"Mere adarniya pitaji aur sabke netaji nahi rahe - Akhilesh Yadav," the SP tweeted from its Twitter handle.

Mulayam was admitted in the hospital since August and was shifted in ICU on October 2 and had been on lifesaving drugs since.

According to hospital sources, he breathed his last at 8.15 a.m. on Monday.

The 82-year-old Samajwadi Party patriarch was facing difficulty in breathing and was under the supervision of an internal medicine expert at the Medanta Hospital, as per sources. Singh was suffering from a urinary infection as well, hospital sources had said.

On Sunday, Medanta Hospital had put out a health bulletin stating that the veteran leader's condition was quite critical and that he was on life-saving drugs.

Condoling his death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Yadav was a remarkable personality and was widely admired as a grounded leader.

"Mulayam Singh Yadav served people diligently and devoted his life towards popularising ideals of Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia," he said in a tweet.

Yadav distinguished himself in Uttar Pradesh and national politics and was a key soldier for democracy during Emergency, he said.

As defence minister, Yadav worked for a stronger India and his Parliamentary interventions were insightful, Modi added.

Yadav served as defence minister and as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh thrice.

Born on November 22, 1939 into a farming family in Saifai near Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, Yadav spawned the state's most prominent political clan.

He was elected an MLA 10 times and an MP, mostly from Mainpuri and Azamgarh, seven times.