PM, Sonia mourn Surjeet's death

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi paid tributes to former CPM general secretary H K S Surjeet, who played a leading role along with her in propping up the recently divorced UPA-Left alliance against the NDA in the 224 Lok Sabha polls.

Condoling the death of Surjeet, Ms Gandhi described him as ���a towering leader who has inspired a generation��� and said his death ���is a loss to both the Communist movement and the entire nation��� . The AICC said Mr Surjeet ���was a tall leader of not only the CPM but the entire nation.���

In his condolence message, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: ���Surjeet Saheb was a great political leader, a true patriot, a man committed to welfare of the downtrodden, a great Indian and above all a dear friend.

As I said recently in Parliament, he was one of the architects of UPA. Under his leadership, the communist movement came into the national mainstream and contributed to giving a progressive orientation to our social and economic policies . I always valued his advice and reached out to him for support and guidance in managing the UPA government.