Raipur, April 27: Former Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee’s niece and Congress leader KarunaShukla died of coronavirus in Raipur today.

After testing positive for the virus, Shukla was admitted to a private hospital on April 14, where she breathed her last at 0100 hrs.

Her cremation will be held in Baloda Bazar, family sources said.

She started her political career with the BJP, and in 1993, was elected a member of the undivided Madhya Pradesh VidhanSabha (Legislative Assembly). Shukla was elected to the LokSabha in 2004 and lost the election in 2009.

She then joined the Congress during the 2014 LokSabha elections due to differences with the BJP. In the last assembly election held in the state, she was fielded by the Congress against the then Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh from the Rajnandgaon seat, but she lost.

After formation of the Congress government in the state, Shukla was made the chairman of the Chhattisgarh Social Welfare Board last year.

She was constantly active in the organisation’s work and the grand-old party sent her to many places to train Congress workers.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel deeply mourned the demise. MrBaghel said that he shared family terms with Shukla and got her blessings.

‘May God grant peace to the departed soul and courage to all of us to bear the irreparable loss,’ he prayed.

Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly Speaker CharandasMahant and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh also condoled Karuna’s demise.(UNI)