"VK Malhotra was our guiding force...": BJP MLA Harish Khurana

New Delhi [India], October 1 (ANI): Expressing grief over the death of senior party leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra, BJP MLA Harish Khurana on Wednesday said that the former was a guiding force for the party.
"This is a huge loss not only for the BJP but for society as a whole. He was a guiding force for the BJP. We have lost a fatherly figure," Khurana told reporters.
Earlier, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Virendraa Sachdeva expressed sadness over the death of senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra, calling his passing an "irreparable loss" to the party and the nation.
Speaking to ANI, Sachdeva recalled Malhotra's instrumental role in the ideological and organisational foundations of the party. "It is an irreparable loss... I have worked with him continuously for many years... His signatures are on the founding charter of Bharatiya Jan Sangh, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)," he said.
BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal also paid tribute to the veteran leader, stating, "Professor Vijay Kumar Malhotra...laid the foundation stone of modern Delhi that we see today...He was an inspiration to all of us workers..."
Five-time Member of Parliament and a two-time MLA from Delhi, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, passed away at the age of 93 at AIIMS, New Delhi, on the morning of September 30.
Born on December 3, 1931, in Lahore, Punjab, British India (now in Pakistan), Malhotra was a politician and sports administrator who served as the President of the Delhi Pradesh Jana Sangh between 1972 and 1975, and later served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party of Delhi (1977-80, 1980-84).
Alongside leaders such as Kedar Nath Sahni and Madan Lal Khurana, Malhotra is credited with maintaining the BJP's strength in Delhi for decades. His most notable political victory came in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, when he defeated former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by a large margin. In the 2004 general election, Malhotra was the only BJP candidate to win a seat in Delhi.
According to the BJP, Malhotra enjoyed an unblemished and clean image throughout his distinguished career. An educationist with a doctorate in Hindi literature, Malhotra was also active in social work and the administration of sports bodies, including chess and archery clubs in Delhi. (ANI)