Former governor of Uttar Pradesh and former foreign secretary Romesh Bhandari passed away on Saturday night after a prolonged illness. He was 85.
Bhandari is survived by his wife and daughter. The diplomat turned politician had been ailing for some time with pancreatic cancer and was admitted to Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon for the last three weeks.
His mortal remains were consigned to flames at the Lodhi Road crematorium here on Sunday evening.
Bhandari was the foreign secretary between 1985-86. He later became the lieutenant governor of Delhi apart from serving as the governor of Tripura and Goa.
He was made the governor of UP in July 1996 when the state was under President’s Rule.
Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had appointed him as the chairman of the Congress party foreign cell in the AICC after his retirement. Condoling his death, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit described him as an “able administrator”.
Mr Bhandari was born in Lahore on March 29, 1928 in Lahore and had joined Indian Foreign Service in 1950 as the vice-consul at the consulate in New York.