Sushma Swaraj, former foreign minister dies at 67

NEW DELHI: Sushma Swaraj, former union minister and one of the BJP's tallest leaders, died Tuesday at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences. She was 67.

Sources said Swaraj was rushed to the hospital by her family at 9.50 pm after she was taken ill.

A number of her party colleagues and ministers reached AIIMS to meet her. Among the first to arrive were Nitin Gadkari, Dr Harshvardhan and Rajnath Singh.

The 67-year-old had not been keeping well lately, which is why she had not contested the recently held Lok Sabha election and opted out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new government.

Earlier Tuesday evening, Swaraj had tweeted congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation bill in parliament.

"Thank you Prime Minister. Thank you very much. I was waiting to see this day in my lifetime," her tweet read.

The foreign minister - loved as much for her quick response to distress messages on Twitter as for her mellow sense of humour- had moved out of her official residence in June. A nine-time parliamentarian followed by nearly 12.8 million people on Twitter, Sushma Swaraj became the youngest minister of a state back in 1977.

"A glorious chapter in Indian politics comes to an end," PM Modi tweeted.