Odisha: Congress leader Sushila Tiria dies at 70

Congress leader and former MP Sushila Tiria died on Sunday evening while undergoing treatment at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, her family said. She was 70, and a spinster. Tiria, a four-time MP -- twice from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat and twice from Rajya Sabha -- was undergoing treatment for her lungs infection. A former Congress Working Committee member, Tiria was currently a State Political Advisory Committee member of the Pradesh Congress Committee. ''I am deeply saddened and shocked to learn about the passing away of Smt. Sushilla Tiria, a senior Congress leader from Mayurbhanj, former Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MP,'' Odisha Congress chief Bhakta Charan Das said in a statement. Her long service to tribal welfare and social justice is an irreparable loss to the Congress, Das said, and expressed his condolences to the bereaved family.