Saturday , November 16 2024

Shock to Congress, veteran leader who hijacked plane with cricket ball for Indira Gandhi dies | News India

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Former MLA Bhola Pandey passed away: Bhola Pandey, who hijacked a plane for Indira Gandhi with a cricket ball, has passed away. After this kidnapping incident, he became famous all over the world and became a close associate of Indira Gandhi. After this, Dr. Bholanath Pandey, who was a prominent leader in Congress politics for three decades, passed away on Friday at his residence in Lucknow.

He was the national secretary of the Congress

Bhola Pandey, who was very close to the Gandhi family since the time of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was twice the MLA from Dwaba (now Bairia) from 1980 to 1985 and from 1989 to 1991 and the National Secretary of the Congress. 71-year-old Bhola was ill for a long time. As soon as the news of his death was received, a wave of mourning spread throughout Bairia including Dwaba. His well-wishers and party workers left for Lucknow in large numbers.

Big setback for Congress

Dr Bhola Pandey was born on 25 October 1973 in Munichhapra village of Bairia district. After doing his early education from Inter College Bairia and Dubechhapra, he graduated from BHU and obtained a PhD degree in Hindi. Bhola Nath, who was associated with Congress from the beginning, became MLA for the first time in 1980 by defeating the then strong leader of Dwaba, Manager Singh.

After this, he was elected MLA for the second time in 1989. He was the National General Secretary of All India Youth Congress from 1986 to 1990. In 1991, he was made the National Secretary of the Congress Party. He worked in the organization for a long time as the party in-charge of states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh.

The plane was hijacked using a cricket ball

At that time there was a Janata Party government at the centre and Morarji Desai was the Prime Minister. The then former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was arrested by the CBI on 19 December 1978. On receiving this information, 21-year-old Dr. Bhola Pandey and another companion, Devendra Pandey, hijacked a Boeing 737 aircraft on 20 December 1978.

The interesting thing is that Bhola Nath wrapped a cricket ball in a handkerchief and called it a bomb and landed the flight from Lucknow to Delhi in Varanasi. When he was questioned, he demanded the immediate release of Indira Gandhi. Due to this incident, Dr. Bhola Pandey became a world famous face and he also opened his doors for the Gandhi family forever. After this incident, Dr. Bhola went to jail. When he came out, Congress gave him a ticket and he became MLA from Dwaba for the first time.