M A I N   N E W S

Power Minister Sayeed dead

New Delhi, December 18
Union Power Minister P.M. Sayeed, who had been suffering from enlargement of lever, died of heart attack in Seoul today, his office sources here said. He was 65.

He had been elected to the Lok Sabha from Lakshadweep a record number of nine times beginning in 1971.

Sayeed became the youngest member of the fourth Lok Sabha when he was elected to the House in 1967 when Lakshadweep became a constituency for the first time.

His first stint in the corridor of power had come in 1979-80 when he was inducted into the short-lived Charan Singh government.

In Narasimha Rao government, he served as Union Minister of State for Home in January, 1995, and then as Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting in May, 1996.

In recognition of his experience as parliamentarian, he was made the Deputy Speaker of the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999 and remained in that post till the dissolution of the House in 2004 when he was appointed the Power Minister on Congress’ return to power.

After his defeat in 2004 Lok Sabha poll, Sayeed was brought by Congress as a member of Rajya Sabha in deference to his experience as a lawmaker as well as an administrator and, above all, his loyalty to the Gandhi clan. — PTI