Former Union minister and freedom fighter Mohan Dharia died in Pune today following chronic renal failure. He was 89. A socialist at heart, Dharia who was a member of both Congress and Janata party government cabinet, had also held
the post of deputy chairman of planning commission in 1990-91.

He was the first minister to resign from the Indira Gandhi cabinet after the then prime minister imposed emergency rule in 1975. He later joined the Jaiprakash Nariain movement and was inducted into the Morarji Desai’s first non-Congress
government at the Centre as commerce minister after winning the Pune Lok Sabha seat in 1977. Dharia retired from active politics in 1982 and formed “Vanrai”, an organization dedicated to the cause of conservation and social forestry.