Sikkim ex-CM Bhandari dies

New Delhi, July 16 (IANS): Former Sikkim Chief Minister Nar Bahadur Bhandari died on Sunday at a city hospital following cardiac arrest, a state government official said on Sunday. He was 77. Bhandari is survived by his wife, a former parliamentarian, two daughters, and a son. He was the founder-leader of the Sikkim Sangram Parishad party. Bhandari was in power in the tiny Himalayan state between 1979 and 1994 and the first Gorkha politician to lead an Indian state. The body of Bhandari, one of the longest serving Chief Ministers in the country, will be taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for embalming and later to Sikkim House. Bhandari was born on October 5, 1940, in Malbasey village, near Soreng, in west Sikkim. Bhandari began his political career in Darjeeling in 1967 by joining Tarun Sangha.