By IANS
Alwar/New Delhi : Former Delhi chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice president Sahib Singh Verma was killed in a road accident on the Delhi-Jaipur highway in Rajasthan when a truck crashed into his car.
Verma's driver and security guard were also killed in the gruesome mishap when his Tata Safari car, carrying three more people, collided with a speeding truck on the stretch of the highway touching Shahjahanpur, close to Alwar. He was returning to Delhi from Sikar in Rajasthan.
Rescue teams had to struggle to extricate the bodies out of the wreckage.
"The incident occurred at around 2.20 p.m., when a truck coming from the opposite side jumped the divider and had a head-on collision with Verma's car. Three people have died in the accident," Deputy Superintendent of Police (Alwar) Rajesh Gupta told IANS.
Verma was 63. He is survived by his wife and two sons, both living abroad.
In Delhi, the BJP expressed shock at his death. Condoling Verma's death, BJP leader L.K. Advani said: "It is a loss for the BJP and the farming community. It is saddening that a person 20 years younger to me has died in a road accident."
"It is a big loss for the party and the country. He was a social activist who was highly respected. He had always raised his voice for the poor," party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said.
Verma was born on March 15, 1943 in a farmer's family in Mundka village in Delhi. He began his career as a librarian in Bhagat Singh College of Delhi University.
Verma was elected councillor in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on a Janata Party ticket in 1977.
In 1983 he won again, now on a BJP ticket, and remained councillor till 1989. In 1993 he won the assembly elections and became education minister in the Delhi government headed by Madan Lal Khurana.
Verma became chief minister of Delhi in 1996 and held the post for more than two-and-a-half years.
He was labour minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee from 2002 till 2004. He also held various positions in the party.