'I Am Shocked, Lost A Long Time Friend': Former President Pranab Mukherjee

Congress leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit passed away on Saturday at a private hospital here following a cardiac arrest.

NEW DELHI, INDIA – DECEMBER 28: Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee attend the AICC Foundation Day at AICC HQ in New Delhi on Tuesday, December 28, 2010.(Photo by Yasbant Negi/The India Today Group via Getty Images)

New Delhi: Former President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday expressed shock over the demise of Sheila Dikshit, saying "I have lost a long time friend". Veteran Congress leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit passed away on Saturday at a private hospital here following a cardiac arrest. She was 81. Taking to twitter to express his condolence, Mukherjee said, "I am saddened and shocked at the passing away of Smt Sheila Dikshit. A former Union Minister, 3-time CM and Governor, in her death I have lost a long time friend and colleague. My thoughts are with her aggrieved family and friends".

I am saddened and shocked at the passing away of Smt Sheila Dikshit. A former Union Minister, 3 time CM and Governor, in her death I have lost a long time friend and colleague. My thoughts are with her aggrieved family and friends. pic.twitter.com/ol2QtoddFy

— Pranab Mukherjee (@CitiznMukherjee) July 20, 2019

Sheila Dikshit was suffering from heart ailments and had undergone multiple surgeries. Born in Kapurthala in Punjab to a non-political family in 1938, Dikshit did her schooling from Convent of Jesus and Mary School in the capital and graduated from Miranda House, University of Delhi. She was married in July 1962 to bureaucrat Vinod Dikshit, whose father Uma Shankar Dikshit was a loyalist of Jawaharlal Nehru and served as a minister in Indira Gandhi's cabinet in 1971 and later became Governor of Karnataka and West Bengal. As the longest serving woman chief minister who ruled the city state for three consecutive terms from 1998 to 2013, Dikshit ushered in an era of all-round development that transformed Delhi into a world class capital. ALSO WATCH: Prime Minister Modi Offers Last Respects To Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit