752 Virbhadra Singh. File photo The death of Virbhadra Singh, veteran Congress politician and the sitting MLA from Arki in Himachal Pradesh, marks the end of an era. The 87-year-old had been struck by Covid-19 twice between April and June, and though he recovered both times despite his advanced age, the complications caused by the virus eventually overpowered him. This brings to an end a public career that began in 1947, when he became the titular raja of the erstwhile princely state of Bushahr, prominent among the pre-Independence Shimla Hill States. As he liked to narrate, he was urged to join politics by Jawaharlal Nehru and he became an MP at 27 in 1962. Over the course of the next six decades, he dominated the state politics like none other, becoming the chief minister on six occasions — serving in that post a total of more than 21 years since the state elected its first Assembly in 1972. Away from provincial politics, he was elected to the Lok Sabha five times and served as a minister at the Centre in various governments.