CM's Wife Manju Sinha Loses Battle with Life
New Delhi: May 14, 2007
After battling with pneumonia and chest infection for nearly two weeks, Manju Sinha, the wife of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, on Monday evening at Delhi's Max hospital, breathed her last leaving behind a grieving husband, son and other family members and loved ones across the state.
Mrs. Sinha's earthly remains will be brought to Patna by a morning flight on Tuesday. The body will be placed at 1 Anne Marg, the official residence of the Chief Minister, for a last glimpse of his wife, before being cremated at Pahalwan Ghat later in the afternoon, reports said.
Kumar, despite some criticism from the opposition leaders, remained by Mrs. Sinha's bedside at the Max Hospital until she breathed her last.
She was brought to Delhi on May 1 after a Patna hospital recommended moving her to the nation's capital because of pneumonia and complication in her chest forcing the doctors to keep her on ventilator for breathing.
A wave of grief spread across Bihar as soon as the news of Mrs. Sinha's death became public.
A sobbing Chief Minister was seen trying to console his only son Nishi while other party senior leaders, including Shivanand Tiwari, Lallan Singh, and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sanjay Jha were doing their best to comfort Kumar.
Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Ram Vilas Paswan visited Kumar at the Max Hospital and offered their condolences. At Bihar Bhawan, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP senior leader L. K. Advani met with Kumar to offer their support while a string of top leaders and bureaucrats also gathered at JD-U Patna office to express their grief over this sudden turn of events in the Chief Minister's personal life.
The eldest among five brothers and sisters, Manju Sinha got married to Nitish Kumar on February 22, 1973. An English graduate, she was currently teaching English at Kamala Nehru Balika Vidyalaya in Yarpur in Patna.
Mrs. Sinha was 51.
Late evening in Patna, a high level meeting was convened by state Chief Secretary A. K. Chowdhary at the Chief Minister's residence to chalk out plans for tomorrow's cremation procession. The meeting was attended by several top bureaucrats including Director General of Police (DGP) Ashish Ranjan Sinha, ADG Abhayanand, Patna IG Rajvardhan Sharma, Patna District Magistrate B. Rajendra, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kundan Krishnan, and CM's personal secretary Chanchan Kumar.
On May 7, a number of women in Patna had organized a puja at Kargil Chowk to pray for the speedy recovery of Mrs. Sinha but that was not meant to be.
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