New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Captain Satish Sharma died in Goa on 17th February, 2021, after a brief illness. He was 73.

Sharma had been suffering from cancer and had been ailing for some time. He died at 8.16 pm in Goa. His last rites would be done in Delhi on 19th February, 2021, as the body is being brought from Goa.

When Rajiv Ji became the Prime Minister in 1984 after Indira Gandhi Ji’s assassination, Sharma’s second career took off. There was no looking back after that – until a few years ago, when the party decided against nominating him to the Rajya Sabha for yet another term.

Sharma, who became a Rajya Sabha MP for the first time in 1986, had been in the thick of controversies many times. Even during Rajiv Ji’s tenure, in the early days of his political career, some controversial land deals involving him had become a burning issue.

Sharma looked after Rajiv Ji’s Lok Sabha constituency – Amethi – from an office on the Race-Course Road. In 1991, he was elected to Lok Sabha from Amethi in by-elections after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.

He was a Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas for three years from 1993 to 1996 in the P V Narasimha Rao government.

Born on October 11, 1947, in Andhra Pradesh’s Secunderabad, Sharma was a professional commercial pilot.

A three-time Lok Sabha MP who represented Rae Bareli and Amethi constituencies, Sharma was a Rajya Sabha member for three terms representing the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

He first became a member of Rajya Sabha in June 1986 and was later elected to the Lok Sabha from Amethi in 1991 after the death of Rajiv Gandhi Ji.

He was later a member of Rajya Sabha from July 2004 to 2016.

Capt. Satish Sharma is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

In a tweet on 18th February, 2021, Shri Rahul Gandhi posted: “I’m very sad to hear of the demise of Captain Satish Sharma. My love and condolences to his family & friends. We will miss him.”