Bhubaneswar: Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Kanhu Charan Lenka passed away at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar on Friday. He was 87. His demise marks the end of a long and influential political career spanning over four decades.

Union Minister and Parliamentarian

Lenka was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha in 1988 and served as a Member of Parliament till 1994. During this period, he held the position of Minister of State for Railways and Agriculture in the Union Cabinet led by then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao.

Four-Time MLA from Choudwar

At the state level, the Congress leader represented the Choudwar Assembly Constituency multiple times. He served as a Member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly from 1971 to 1974, from 1974 to 1977, again from 1980 to 1985, and later from 1995 to 2000.

Early Political Life and Party Loyalty

Born in 1939, Lenka began his political journey in 1957 by joining the Congress Seva Dal. He remained associated with the Congress for nearly 39 years. Between 1981 and 1994, he also served as an All India Congress Committee observer in several states, including Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Haryana, and Karnataka. He stood firmly with the leadership of Indira Gandhi during both the first Congress split in 1969 and the second split in 1978, serving at the time as General Secretary of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee.

Awards and Contributions

Lenka received several prestigious honours for his contributions to agriculture, social service, and infrastructure development. In 1968, the Government of Orissa recognised him as the “First Farmer” in the state to cultivate and produce hybrid maize and jowar seeds. He was awarded the “Vijay Ratna” in 1991 for outstanding social service and contributions to Odisha’s development, and again in 1993 for significant railway development work in Odisha and across the country. In 1995, he received the Jawaharlal Nehru Excellence Award on the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, presented in New Delhi.

Kanhu Charan Lenka is remembered as a strong political leader and a loyal Congressman whose contributions left a lasting imprint on Odisha’s political and developmental landscape.