PA Sangma no more

New Delhi, March 4: Former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma died following a heart attack here on Friday morning. He was 68. Prime Minister rendra Modi said his tenure as Lok Sabha Speaker would remain unforgettable.

Sangma presided over the 11th Lok Sabha as Speaker from 1996 to 1998. He also remained Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990.

Sangma was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha from Tura constituency on the tiol Peoples Party ticket, the political outfit he launched in 2013.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan read out an obituary and the House observed two minutes' silence before it was adjourned for the day.

President Prab Mukherjee condoled Sangma's death and said: "In passing away of Shri Sangma, the tion has lost an eminent public figure and multi-faceted persolity."

Modi said in a statement that Sangma was a self-made leader whose contribution to the development of the Northeast was monumental.

"Sangma's tenure as Lok Sabha Speaker is unforgettable. His down to earth persolity and affable ture endeared him to many," he added. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said "the tion has lost a tall leader and the Northeast has lost an important voice".

BJP president Amit Shah tweeted: "Saddened by the sudden demise of former loksabha speaker P A Sangma, My condolences to the bereaved family. May his soul rest in peace." Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that Purno A. Sangma strode like a colossus on the political firmament spanning several decades and worked relentlessly for the development of Meghalaya in particular and the Northeast region in general.