SENIOR BJP leader of Delhi and senior advocate Sushri Purnima Sethi passed away in New Delhi on October 17 following a cardiac arrest. She was 58. She was unmarried. The last rites were performed by the son of her sister, Anukur Kohli.
Prominent among those who paid tribute included senior party leaders Shri LK Advani, Shri Arun Jaitley, Smt Sushma Swaraj, Shri Venkaiah Naidu, Shri Kirit Somaiya, Shri Vijay Goel, Shri Vijendra Gupta, Shri Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Prof Jagdish Mukhi, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Shri Vijay Jolly, Arti Mehra, Shikha Rai, etc. Later Shri Rajnath Singh, Prof Premkumar Dhumal, Shri Kalraj Mishra and Shri Omprakash Chautala of INLD condoled over telephone. Congress leaders Shri Yoganand Shastri, Shri Subhash Chopra and Shri Sajjan Kumar also paid tribute at the condolence meeting organised on October 20.
Born on October 18, 1954 in Delhi, Purnima Sethi had BSc from Deshbandhu College and later did law from Delhi University. She was a firebrand leader since the school and college days and was elected as first female joint secretary of Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) in 1974.
She had close association with the RSS, Rashtra Sevika Samiti and the Jan Sangh. Her uncle the late Hansraj Sethi, was a Jan Sangh councilor. She did third year training of Rashtriya Sevika Samiti and had close relations with the senior Samiti leaders including Sindhu Tai Phatak and Ushatai Chati. Even Shri Guruji and Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya visited her house when she was a child. She was also active in the JP movement and had worked against Emergency staying underground. Purnima Sethi was also active in Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha and became its national general secretary. She was incharge of several states. She had close association with senior party leaders like Advaniji and Shri Sunder Singh Bhandariji. She became an Elderman of the MCD in 1979. In 1993, she was elected MLA from Kalkaji constituency and later became Social Welfare and Food and Supply Minister in Saheb Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj cabinets.(FOC)
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