Uttarakhand BJP MLA Surendra Singh Jeena dies of Covid-19

Dehradun: Three-time BJP MLA Surendra Singh Jeena, 50, who represented the Salt constituency of Almora district, died due to Covid-19 at Sir Gangaram Hospital in Delhi on Thursday.
Devendra Bhasin, state media head of BJP told TOI that Jeena was admitted to the Delhi hospital around a week ago. He breathed his last at 4 am. In view of the MLA’s passing away, the party's state unit deferred plans for its Diwali programme as well as celebrations scheduled for the Bihar assembly poll win on Thursday.
Expressing shock at the passing away of the legislator, CM Trivendra Rawat said, “I met him at his residence recently after his wife passed away.He was always counted among our active legislators who took up the cause of the disadvantaged sections and was always concerned about his constituency's development.”
State party president Bansidhar Bhagat said, “Surendra Singh Jeena was one of the most active leaders of the BJP in Uttarakhand. His popularity can be gauged from the fact that he reached the assembly for the third consecutive time. His untimely demise is a huge loss to the party.”
A graduate from Delhi University, Jeena became a member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in 1988 and joined the BJP in 2001. He won his first election in 2007 from Bhikiyasain and in 2012, became an MLA from Salt, a seat which he retained in the 2017 assembly polls as well. He also served as chairman of Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam in 2009.
Known as a firebrand legislator, Jeena did not hesitate to also place his own government in the dock on issues related to his constituency and the state.
During an assembly session in September 2018, the MLA had raised a question on combustible resin. Not satisfied with the forest minister's reply, he had said that the information provide by the minister was “false and misleading”. He even presented some photographs through which he claimed that the resin in his constituency was lying in the open for several years and despite requests, officials were not paying any heed.
His posing of a question in the assembly in December 2018 on vacant posts of teachers in secondary schools also left the BJP government red-faced.
Opposition MLAs also expressed shock at Jeena’s passing away.
Congress MLA from Kedarnath Manoj Rawat, who is himself recovering from Covid-19, called Jeena’s demise an "irreparable loss". “He did not shy away from raising questions on key issues, even if they were against his own government. We in the opposition, too, regarded him as a dynamic and firebrand legislator,” the Congress MLA said.
Jeena is survived by his two sons. His wife had also passed away recently in Delhi following heart failure.