Senior Congress leader and former All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Deepak Babaria died at a hospital in Ahmedabad after a prolonged illness, party leaders said on Saturday. He was 75.

An organisational leader seen as a close confidant of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Babaria served as the party’s general secretary in charge of Haryana and Delhi in 2023.

Rahul Gandhi leads tributes

Rahul Gandhi described Babaria’s death as extremely heartbreaking and said his passing was an irreplaceable loss to the party. In a post on X, he said Babaria’s dedication to the organisation and his contribution to strengthening the party would always be remembered, and expressed his deepest condolences to his family members, colleagues and supporters.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also condoled his death, calling him a dedicated soldier of the Congress party and its ideology, and said his departure was an irreparable loss to the Congress family. Randeep Singh Surjewala, the AICC general secretary in-charge of Gujarat, also paid tribute to Babaria on X and said the party stood with the bereaved family in this hour of grief.

Behind-the-scenes man since the 1970s

Known as a behind-the-scenes man, Babaria had been with the Congress since the 1970s and never held an elected position. Considered a strategist for the party, he was involved in creating its election manifestos, especially in Gujarat.

Babaria was the Congress’s in-charge for Madhya Pradesh when the party won the Assembly elections in 2018, bringing Kamal Nath back to power as chief minister. Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi recalled that after the victory, Babaria told Rahul Gandhi to free him from all responsibilities.

In 2024, he was one of the observers tasked with deciding who would be chief minister after Congress won the Karnataka assembly election.

In 2020, he suffered a brain stroke but was back in action after his recovery. Based in Ahmedabad, Babaria had been admitted to Jivraj Mehta hospital in recent days. He was a chemical engineer by profession and is survived by two daughters, one of whom is settled in the US, Doshi said.