Shimla: Shyama Sharma, 70, Himachal Pradesh's firebrand woman leader, who also served as a minister in the Shanta Kumar government, died on Monday at a hospital in Chandigarh.
Sharma was unwell for the past few days and was rushed to Chandigarh for treatment. Her condition deteriorated in the day and thus could not survive.
Her Covid-19 test done earlier in the day was positive, said an official at Government medical college, Nahan.
She was the first woman to be elected from Nahan assembly constituency in Sirmaur district in 1977 and was inducted as a minister in the Janata Party government led by Shanta Kumar.
Sharma, who had a distinction of being a woman leader from Himachal Pradesh, was jailed during the emergency.
She was a popular political figure known for her grit and relentless fighting spirits.
Sharma had studied at DAV college Dehradun and also had done her LLB degree.
At the age of 22, she had launched a massive agitation, single handedly for the rights of workers in her district to fight against their exploitation.
It is said when police went on chasing her for her arrest, she took a plunge in a river and escaped. She remained underground for a long time yet expanded her agitation for the workers' fights even outside Himachal Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, former Chief Ministers Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal, besides National BJP president J P Nadda and Union minister Anurag Thakur recalled her contributions to the state
politics.